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A strange new life. [Naruto]

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5.19
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    • I woke up the next day not refreshed, but feeling better, ready to get out of the bed and start a new day. The trauma hadn't gone away, but it was contained, after a fashion. A memory of the laboratory surfaced, and I had to close my eyes, force the shaking to stop. I wasn't going to have another mental breakdown. Not here, at least. I was sure I'd be able to complete the mission. Delving deeper into the nature of what happened to me, and what it really meant could wait until I was back at home safe, sound, and hopefully happy.

    Maybe I should try counseling? Did Konoha even have the concept of therapy?

    A thought flashed in my mind, I imagined how a therapy session would be like in Konoha: A comfortable room, and a comfortable chaise lounge. On a similar comfortable chair opposite the chaise sat Yamanaka Inoichi, with a book in hand titled: The secrets of the mind. With his grave voice he would say. "Now, relax and open your mind. This won't hurt a bit."

    I shook the silly thought away. My chest burned with thirst, my stomach growled in hunger. More than that, I needed to find the loo. It was a matter of life and death.

    That need spurned me out of the warm blankets and into a new day. The water jug had been replaced at some point, and the bowl of food swapped to bread, cheese and a few dried fruits. I remember those. We purchased them back in the town to complement our own supplies.

    Before the day really started, I pushed my chakra, out popped another me. She had bed hair, lines on her face from the blanket, eyes still crusty, clothes in disarray from staying in bed for days without removing her ninja gear. But her eyes, while sad, weren't despairing. Her mouth curved with a small smile.

    I hopped closer, gave her a big hug, then kissed her forehead. I know what you're thinking, but don't blame me too much. I just decided I was done lying to myself and ignoring my own loneliness. With my particular set of skills, I could actually give myself a hug, so why not? Other me gave me a cheeky grin, like she knew what I was thinking, then another hug before unpopping herself.

    I ran toward the restroom and worked on my business, relieved myself before things got even more awkward. Done with my morning ablutions, I swapped for a cleaner outfit, adjusted the weight seals, made sure I was presentable. It was time to face the music.

    Yamato's default house was a two story building with the bedrooms on the upper floor, living room, small rooms that I thought of as offices and the kitchen. Given how dark and cold the house was, the sun hadn't risen yet. I climbed down the stairs, and found Sai sitting cross legged on a cushion. His eyes were closed, hand in front of his stomach, with each finger meeting the opposite hand counterpart.

    Cadaver pale Sai opened his eyes, maybe alerted by the sound of my footsteps. The light was dim, but I could see him glance my way. He gave me a nod, I waved back. Then he closed his eyes again. Behind his facade of calm politeness, I saw something else: indifference, contempt, annoyance.

    It wasn't the first time I had the impression Sai didn't like me. But it was the first time the feeling was this strong. What was that about? Hold on, was Sai jelly of Yamato taking care of me? I wouldn't be that, would it? Imagine it, Sai wanted some of Daddy Yamato's care.

    I held in a chuckle at that inappropriate thought. I had no idea about Sai's situation, and had made no attempt to understand him. It wasn't fair of me to make fun of him, even in the privacy of my own mind. I was trying to be a better, more honest person.

    Kitchen work kept me occupied for the next few minutes. An early breakfast might help with the hard day to come. I decided to splurge. Took out of my seals, a few prepared supplies. Before leaving Konoha, I knew I wouldn't have much time to bake stuff. The purchased pastries were good enough for my pre-defined good impression kits, but I wanted something better, and I had a few hours to burn before morning.

    I rolled up my metaphorical sleeves, and got to work. Breakfast wasn't going to cook itself.






    Later, after I was done with baking the cake, I larded the hot slice with butter. I don't think doing so was common even in the before, but it was one of my comfort foods. On another plate, I put another slice of cake, a small pot with butter, and a knife. Together with that, was the thermos with tea. I carried all that to the living room where Sai was still keeping vigil.

    Not long after I started to prepare breakfast, Sai sent out a few more of his ink birds. At first, I was a bit confused about what he was doing. I could sense his chakra moving, then bits of chakra moving away from the camp. It took a second to link those small bundles of chakra with his ink constructs.

    I walked near Sai, placed breakfast in front of him. He opened his eyes again. Looked at the food, then to me. Gave me another nod and got to eating.

    I sat on another cushion and ate my butter heavy slice of cake. We didn't talk. For one, I wasn't in the mood to talk. This was just my first step to trying to mend a relationship that hadn't been there at all. Again, we might not ever be friends, that was what my gut kept telling me, but I wanted at least a cordial working relationship.

    The aroma of fresh baked cake roused the rest of the team. First Yamato. He walked down the stairs, prim and proper. Nodded at both of us, and went to the kitchen to get his own slice of cake. Hayase showed up a few moments later. Bed hair and bed face, barefooted and scratching his stomach. He let out a big yawn, said something I decided meant good morning, and also disappeared inside the kitchen to get his food.

    We ate in silence.

    After we finished the meal, Yamato was the first to break the silence. "I'm glad you're feeling better today, Hinata-san." I got up and bowed in thanks to the jounin. He'd done a lot for me. "If things go as planned, I'll break into the vaults today. I can tackle the laboratories tomorrow, while you help Hayase catalog the vault's contents. We'll also need your help to store the contents in storage seals for ease of transportation."

    Sai glanced from Yamato to me, while Hayase nodded.

    I popped out my board, considered my words. I was aware Yamato fudged the truth a little and was giving me an out to avoid the labs. I didn't want to avoid the place. I wrote my response. "Thanks, Taicho. I'd really like a chance to make up for the lab. I'd appreciate it even more if you came with me."

    Yamato read the words, his big eyes stared into my soul. "Are you sure?"

    I nodded.

    "Help me with the vault then. Once we finish there, we can move toward the lab and work there together."

    "Are you sure it's safe?" Hayase, who still looked ready to sleep more, asked. "Whatever that trap was, I don't think I ever heard something screaming like that." He glanced my way, gave me a chagrined shrug before looking at Yamato again.

    The jounin sipped his tea. "It might be, but we still have to investigate the lab. It was my mistake splitting up from Hinata-san, and sending her to investigate the rest of the complex while I dealt with the vault. A mistake I won't make again."

    I looked down. I didn't like this. Yamato was taking the blame for something he hadn't done. It felt nice knowing he was ready to take the fall if it meant keeping others from asking about my mental breakdown, but I also felt indignant that he was coddling me that much. I might be only twelve, but I was proud of being a ninja.

    With those conflicting feelings bubbling inside my chest, I followed Yamato into the snake's lair again. I won't say I was over all the things that had happened. I was still confused with my own feelings and reactions, but this felt too important to ignore. And, somehow, Yamato wasn't trying to keep me away from learning.

    For some reason, I was expecting that if we ever found anything important related to Orochimaru's experiments, Yamato would try to keep me as far away from it as possible. It didn't look like that to me. The man just looked worried for me.

    Weird. Was he actually on my corner, and not a spy for the village? I mean, there were all these confusing signals from him. If his goal wasn't to keep me under surveillance, why did he always hide some of his transmission seeds on my stuff? This wasn't a new thing, he'd been doing it since hell month when he started to train me. I never really minded the privacy invasion because I didn't have anything I actually wanted to hide from him, and guessed the man was just following orders.

    And he was probably aware I could feel the chakra in the seeds. Yes, I couldn't tap into that connection and transmission to learn what he was seeing, but Kakashi-sensei knew I could sense chakra. The seed still had chakra inside it, even if it was a tiny bit.

    So many mixed signals messing with my head.





    Tried to generate more images without the grit from hell-month. Some of those look nice. AI can't decide if it wants an older or younger Hinata, tho.

     
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    • 5.20
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    • Crouched down in the dark tunnel, I studied the walls, floor and ceiling.

    There was a hole in the wall that created a direct path from the vaults to the labs. That was an interesting way to use a jutsu. Would Yamato teach me that one if I asked him? I guess I just found what to do on the trip back to Konoha. Thinking about that, I might as well try to leech that water bullet jutsu from Hayase as well.

    In the original story, Hinata's Nature Type was fire and lightning. I'm guessing my affinity to earth came from the implanted Senju cells. Wood release was, after all, a mix of earth and water. If that theory holds true, I could potentially excel in four out of five types of elements. Missing only wind to join the exalted group of very rare ninjas capable of using all five basic elements.

    The entrance to the lab had been sealed by a barrier created out of wood. Yamato's attempt to keep the place out of reach? Said jounin stood by my side, observing me carefully. He didn't press me, for which I was thankful.

    We'd managed to break into the vault a few hours ago. Thankfully, the insides weren't trapped. There were a lot of things there. Books, scrolls, papers, curios, organic samples sealed inside glass containers. It was a lot. From a quick glance, most of that was in some sort of code. We left Hayase to catalog the contents while we tackled the lab, as Yamato had suggested at breakfast.

    Sai was still outside, keeping vigil at the hideout entrance. True to his word, Yamato was being a lot more careful this time. He left a wood clone with Sai, another with Hayase. I tried to leave a shadow clone as well. I wanted, after all, to do my part. But Yamato told me not to.

    I could guess his reasons. If I had another breakdown, the clones might disperse and cause confusion.

    All these considerations were just me trying to procrastinate. I was serious about facing this head on, but wanting was one thing, going forward with it, another. I got up, took a deep breath. Nodded to Yamato, who nodded back.

    His hands flashed with seals, and the wood sealing the lab retreated, leaving the door unbarred.

    I closed my fists. Took another deep breath. Repeated in my mind one, maybe ten times, that it was going to be alright. I wasn't in any danger. Whatever truth I found inside could only help. There was no lower point to fall anymore. I was already aware and living the worst case scenario: I could be a living clone with a ticking bomb inside her body, mistrusted by her own village, with her staunchest ally in this whole thing dead, because she failed to save him.

    The only way things would get worse was if there was some possession shit waiting for me inside that lab. I didn't think that was probable.

    Eyes open, head held high, I entered the damn laboratory.

    It hadn't changed from the last time I was here. The corpse was still on the table. There was a medical trolley by the operating table I hadn't seen the first time. The green goop inside the vats was ever more polluted with brown and flecks of red. The computer was still bulky and out of power.

    Yamato didn't enter. He stayed at the door, surveyed the place with a quick glance. "I made sure there's no traps, you don't need to worry about that."

    I looked back at the jounin.

    "I'll wait outside. Please call me if you need my help." I gave the man a serious nod. He left after that.

    Yamato hadn't given me any orders regarding the lab. My guess was that he was leaving it up to me to decide what to do, or maybe it was another test of loyalty. At this point, I wasn't sure I would be able to tell. I did have an idea of how to deal with the lab. It had been on my mind all day long. A bit of anxiety and dread building at the idea of what I was about to do.

    From the entrance, I moved to the vats. I needed to confirm if any of the clones were still alive. I should have done it the first time I was here, but I hadn't been in the right frame of mind to think about it. I walked down the rolls of tubes, inspecting the copies of me inside them.

    Now that I was paying more attention, I noticed something strange. While those girls inside the vat were undeniably copies of myself, they weren't perfect ones. There were subtle changes to each of them. One had a smaller nose. Another, a bigger mouth. There was one with a different bone structure, her face more elongated than what seemed normal. It wasn't just the face. Some of the clones had different body structure, skin color, one had longer legs, while another thicker arms. I even saw one, looking about a year old, with male genitalia.

    There was another, one of the oldest, that I couldn't even say it was me any longer. It was still my own face, if square-ish, but the body shape was all wrong.

    Her body resembled one of an adult, but she had no breasts, nor any genitalia I could see. Her shoulders were winder, hands larger, but her waist was still thin and curvy. The sense of wrongness was so strong I had to look away. My stomach churned, and the world swayed a little. I doubled over, hands on my knees, taking deep breaths. I refused to have another breakdown.

    None of the clones were alive.

    With a noiseless groan, I pushed myself up, and turned back toward the computer near the entrance. There was, I noticed now, a filing cabinet that had been hidden by the bulky machine, as well as a chair and a desk with writing implements on top of it.

    Walking to the table, my attention was on this new discovery. The papers didn't seem disturbed. It was like Orochimaru left it there, expecting to be back a few hours later to keep experimenting. The notes were all in that strange code of his, but even a cursory glance told me they were important. On one of the parchments, there was a sketch of a skeleton, and a number of seals carved on the bones.

    The drawings there were a lot more complex than the ones I was familiar with. Was this an improved version? I scanned all the available information. There were more drawings, but nothing that made sense to me. I'd need to understand Orochimaru's personal code to read his notes. I gathered all the papers into a neat pile, and turned to the filing cabinet.

    The first drawer was filled to the brim with even more notes, drawings and sketches. Was all of this related to this one particular experiment? I would find out, one way or another.

    I gathered all available dossiers, notes, and parchments into a pile. There wasn't time right now to try deciphering them. That would take a lot of time and effort. From my own seals, I unsealed a bigger piece of parchment. Placed it on the ground, my hand at the center. Before I pushed my chakra, an idea struck me. I blamed Hayase and his endearing dorkness of all things code related.

    The idea was simple. What if I could create a cipher of my own, but for my storage seals? That sparkled another thought. How would I go about it? A subdued smile found its way to my face. Now that I think about it, Seal-chan and her many iterations had already figured that, back in hell month. Sure, at the time, I failed in tying the beacon to my chakra signature in particular, but I did learn how to infuse it with my own jutsu. So, I just needed…

    I took another piece of parchment, a small one this time. I modified the seal, created more building blocks from my own vocabulary. These were simple, they'd take the chakra of the person activating the seals, and change the end result. That way, only a person with that same chakra signature would be able to release the seal contents. I pushed my chakra, and inscribed the new seal. Took one of the pencils from the table, placed it on top of the experimental version and activated it. With a puff of smoke, the pencil disappeared, the sealing complete.

    Somewhat giddy at how easy it had been, I tapped the seal with my finger, willed the seal undone. Out popped a pencil. Slightly worn, marks of abuse, a cracked end. It was the same.


    That changed things. This new version of my seals did need more chakra, but I thought it was a worthy trade. Not everything would need this security measure, but the contents of this laboratory? It wasn't even worth considering not using the new yet to be named jutsu.

    I turned back to the bigger parchment, keeping the shape of the new seal in my mind, Shikoku Fuin did the rest. Guided by my will, the chakra spread through the parchment, creating in seconds a seal that would have taken me minutes to inscribe with ink.

    I owed Kakashi-sensei a hug. I never really thanked the man for this jutsu. It saved so much time.

    That done, I scoured the lab for any other note, paper or drawing I could find. I placed everything on top of my prepared storage seal, pushed in my chakra, and sealed everything away. Now I just needed to think of a way of keeping this information to myself without those geezers in the village taking it off from me. Problems for the future.

    The next part was a lot less interesting. I walked to the table, pulled the inscribed fabric off the corpse's face. She was almost an exact copy of my own, maybe one or two years older. Out of curiosity, I opened her eyes. Lifeless black eyes stared back at me. Gently sliding my hand over her face, I closed her eyes again.

    "I'm sorry," I whispered to the dead version of me.

    My hands hovered over the trolley. With one last deep breath, I took a scalpel. Gruesome as it might be, I wasn't about to pass on the chance to see with my own eyes if she also had other seals in her body. It could be a clue to understand what the ones in my heart and eyes did. A clue to disabling the ticking time bomb the seals on my bones were.

    This decision made me feel like I was following in Orochimaru's footsteps. I wasn't happy about that.
     
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    • 5.21
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    • Absentminded, I cleaned my hands against the apron. Lines of red decorating the white fabric. My forehead was damp with sweat. I worked very hard for the past hours, but I was almost done. With firm steps, I walked to the last tube. Holding a kunai, I struck the container. Glass broke and green goop poured out.

    My hands shot inside the broken container and supported the corpse before it fell down as well. I unplugged the many sensors tied to her body. Those things were small, wicked needles-like thingies that gave me the heebie-jeebies. Soon after, I pulled the tube out of her mouth. It came away flecked with blood and more. I was past trying to keep my hands clean. That ship sailed with the autopsy. Thus the apron.

    I took the corpse in my arms, walked back to the middle of the room. With deliberate care, I placed her together with the others. From embryo to adult, I left none behind. Around the bodies, six kunais were placed in a rough circle, inside a formation of four other kunais. Each of those kunais had a tag on them.

    No, I wasn't about to explode my clones. I liked explosions, but it had its time and place. Those six tags were a modified version meant to produce fire. The outer ones, a simple barrier setup to contain the blaze. The second barrier also prevented the fire from burning all oxygen underground and giving me CO poisoning. That led me into a rabbit-hole trying to understand how to make jutsu fire still burn in an enclosed space. Despite all those implications, the answer was simple: Burn chakra, instead of oxygen. Modifying the seal hadn't taken long when I decided what I wanted to do. I wasn't about to take the corpses back to the village. No chance in hell I would deliver this many versions of myself to those codgers.

    I guess that after the emo phase, I finally hit the teenage angst phase. Rebelling against authority. How normal of me.

    With one last look at the bodies, I stepped out of the prepared area, activating the seals.






    The blaze burned for hours. In the end, all that was left were ashes. My work wasn't done, however. While the pyre burned, I went about dismantling and storing the beast of an old computer. The thing was too unwieldy to store in one single seal. I tried my best to not break anything, but I might have forced some cables out of their place with a little more fervor than delicate bulky machinery should be dealt with. I guess I'd trust the Intelligence nerdy ninjas to fix the thing.

    Imagine that, Shinobi IT Geeks.

    When I was done, my eyes felt heavy, and I was tired. I think it was already the next day when I was finally finished with everything I wanted to do. The lab looked like a hurricane swept past it. Broken glass everywhere, green goop making the floor slippery, a huge patch of burned stuff in the middle. A few cables and wires stuck out where the computer once was. The operation table tossed aside.

    I placed the last explosive tag by the door. This time, it was the best of my best supplies. I hadn't skimped on it either. By the time I was done, there would be no more lab, and hopefully no trace of the travesty perpetuated inside. All that would be left were my memories, trauma, and stuff I stored on my seals.

    I didn't see Yamato when I walked outside the lab. Had he left me alone? I took the path leading toward the entrance, but before I could have walked more than a few meters, Yamato phased through the walls. Damn, that was another jutsu I really wanted. At this point, I was considering if I should really lean into the daughter's disguise. I mean, dad Yamato would have to teach me his jutsu, not just the mokuton stuff, right?

    I didn't stop. Yamato matched my pace and together we walked to the hideout entrance. Before we left I stopped. There was this angry part of me that didn't want to obey my orders and follow the mission, but if anything, now wasn't the time to rock the boat. From what I remembered, Tsunade would be a good Hokage. I was more than willing to give her the benefit of a doubt before taking more drastic actions. Not that I had any idea what those drastic actions would be. I hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

    I would argue my case with her. I didn't want the information and knowledge I found in the lab being disseminated. It just felt wrong.

    Facing the jounin, I produced the many scrolls with all the stuff I deemed I could take away. Held it in both hands with a death grip. All rolled neatly into a pile of seals. The contents of the labs I had sealed away with the improved version of my storage seal. It might be naive of me, but if the village took it away, I could at least use the fact that without me they couldn't access the contents as leverage. Leverage for what, I wasn't sure yet.

    Out popped my comms board. My threads wrote my message. "I burned all of the corpses." A lie I hoped Yamato would forgive me for. I kept one. "A few of them had white eyes, but most didn't. I didn't take any." That at least, wasn't a lie. I had no idea what changes Orochimaru made to those clones, more than that, they were dead for how long? Were those eyes even still alive? I wasn't about to try plucking an eye from a weeks old corpse and plug it into my head.

    That sparked a different thought: what about the eye from Orochimaru? What kind of setup were they using to keep it alive? Do dojutsu eyes even need to be kept alive? Had I made a massive mistake by burning everything? It had been a spurn of the moment decision, one I didn't regret, but now I was left wondering.

    I shook my head, wrote more words. "Gathered all the documents I could find. Dismantled the computer and stored it away."

    Yamato didn't say anything.

    I pushed the rolled scrolls toward him. "Here." My threads wrote.

    Yamato nodded, extended his hands, but didn't take the scrolls. He pushed it back to me. "Keep them. Once we're back at Konoha, I might be able to delay things for a couple of days. Do you think that would be enough to make a copy you could use?"

    When I walked out of that lab, I was ready for some push back, maybe pressure from Yamato for the information, an order to give away everything I found. My hands tightened around the parchments. It crinkled under my grip. I hadn't expected him to try to fudge things again in my favor.

    I couldn't look the man in the eyes, but I nodded. Maybe I blinked away some dust in my eyes. His hand found my head and ruffled my hair. I grumbled, slapped away the offending appendage. He chuckled. Why people liked doing that I would never understand.

    "Hayase still isn't done with cataloging the vault, but he learned some important things." Yamato looked towards the outside, took a step in that direction, I followed. "The sun is almost up, we can talk about it over breakfast, what do you think?"

    Nodding, I erased my board. There was one more piece of information I needed to pass on. Threads worked their way into writing the words. "I jury rigged the whole lab with my best explosives. A few dozen of them."

    Yamato read my message, stumbled. Blinked. "Those explosives you used in the battle?" I gave the man a serious look, shook my head. His shoulders sagged with relief.

    I erased the words on my board, wrote others. "Those were my good ones. I meant what I said. Only my best."

    His hand pinched the bridge of his nose. His voice sounded strained. Body tense. "When are they going to go off?"

    I shrugged. Who did he think I was? "On command."

    Yamato's shoulder sagged again. "Hinata-san, we'll need to talk about acceptable levels of destructive force sometime soon."

    I shrugged again. There wasn't much to talk about. Explosion made things go boom. The bigger the boom, the better.

    Outside the house, patrolling the perimeter, we found a tired looking Hayase. When he noticed us leaving the hideout, he walked closer, then came to a screeching halt when he saw me. He pointed at me, then looked from Yamato to me a few times.

    "Why are you wearing a bloody apron?" The chunin demanded.

    I looked at myself. Hands covered in dried blood, apron splashed with red and bloody handprints.

    I scratched my head. Oops?






    We sat around a small table in the dining area of the camp. On the table, crumbles of cupcakes and an empty tea thermos. I was still tired, and a bit sleepy, but the sugar fix gave me a few motes of energy back into my body.

    Hayase was still giving me strange glances from time to time. Even after I removed the apron, took a bath, donned a new outfit, and made sure the blood under my nails was gone, it still didn't seem enough for him. Might be because I played that off as an everyday occasion, answering as if walking out of a madman hideout covered in blood was the most normal thing in the world.

    Huh, who would have thought that was where he drew the line.

    Yamato took a last sip of his tea, placed it down and looked at me. "Hinata-san, report." He ordered.
     
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    • 5.22
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    • I had, again, made attempts to smooth things over with Sai. I prepared breakfast —pancakes, yay— and even unpopped a few of my cupcakes. Once the food had been served, I tried to strike a conversation. It went something like this:

    "Hello Sai-kun, are you feeling better? Any trouble with the injuries?"

    I know those weren't the best ice breaking conversation starters, but I was a bit lost on what else to talk about with the guy. I thought his jutsu was cool, and was curious if his hobby was painting, but it would have been strange to ask that directly, when he was just coming out of a battle injury.

    Sai looked at me. Nodded. "I am well." He answered in a tone that made clear the conversation wasn't going anywhere.

    I wasn't going to push. Maybe I'd try a few more times, just to make sure I didn't catch him on a bad day.

    Yamato didn't let the silence linger for long. We had already finished eating when he ordered. "Report."

    That command always made fangirl-chan happy. Today wasn't any different. She was still giddy, but a more subdued kind of happy. I understood her. I'd give her a hug if I could. I saluted, then took out my board. Words flowed. There was a lot to report.

    "I finished the lab investigation. Disposed of all organic matter that wasn't fit to be stored or transported. Gathered all available information. Disassembled the computer and stored it as well."

    I gave the boys time to read my report while I wrote on the other side of the board. When I was finished, I flipped it, showing the second part of the report. "I placed explosives at the lab and am ready to trigger them at any point to make sure anything that I missed won't fall on the wrong hands."

    Well, guess what, my report wasn't that long.

    Yamato gave time for the other chunin to read before he addressed me again. "Good job Hinata-san. You'll have to coordinate with Hayase today to pack and store the vault contents. I know it's a lot to ask, but you're the only one in our team capable of creating those storage seals."

    I gave the man a nod. I didn't mind using jutsu. It was cool, and awesome, and fun.

    "Sai, report." Yamato ordered again.

    The pale boy nodded. "My scouts are keeping the area under surveillance. Nothing new to report."

    I'm guessing he wasn't direct and curt with only me. Good to know. Yamato didn't seem to mind the curt report. "Thank you Sai, and good job." Lastly, he turned to Hayase, who had leaned forward, feet bouncing. "Hayase, report." Yamato ordered again.

    "Yes, taicho!" Hayase said, engaged nerd mode, and disgorged the exposition. "Most of the information is protected by a code that is unlike anything we've seen before. It doesn't resemble anything the intelligence department is aware of. At this point, my conjecture is that we're dealing with Orochimaru's personal encryption. I haven't tried to break it yet, but even at a quick glance, that won't be easy, unless we find the cipher."

    Three heads nodded. That wouldn't be easy. Even in the before with the use of supercomputers, breaking encryption was difficult.

    "I've cataloged and listed most of the stuff in the vault. Weapons, jutsu, a lot of ledgers, money, and correspondences. Again, most of that is protected by code, but not all." Hayase stopped here, looked each of us in the eye before continuing. Was he enjoying being dramatic? "I did find, however, that Orochimaru had at least two other hideouts, maybe even up to four."

    I ransacked my brain trying to remember. Knowing that stuff should be right up my alley, but me and fangirl-chan stared in frustrated disbelief when my brain decided to play dead and turn in no memory whatsoever regarding this topic.

    "Are you sure?" Sai, who usually didn't participate much in these talks, asked.

    Hayase nodded, serious. "Yes. One of the notes that wasn't protected by code suggests there's a hideout near Kusagakure, but there were no clues to the precise location. The second hideout is a place named Southern hideout."

    Hayase pulled a rolled scroll next to his seat. I got up, cleaned the table before he made a mess. The chunin gave me a nod, then a smile, before remembering he was still freaked out with me and looking away. Silly boy.

    Yamato coughed, which was enough to dispel the awkwardness. Hayase laid the map open. It was a good version of the known lands. His fingers tapped a group of islands in the Land of Waves.

    "I'm pretty sure I know where the Southern Hideout is." He tapped the islands again. "These islands. If you look here," the chunin took a few more papers, handed them out to us, "There's mention of prisoner transportations to this facility, and this one," he handed Yamato another parchment, "even indicates where are the secret passages Orochimaru uses to reach the hideout in island."

    There was a moment of silence while we digested that information. Hayase's look of glee told me he was enjoying this.

    "Amazing work Hayase." Yamato praised. The chunin preened. "How long until you're finished with cataloging the vault's contents?"

    Hayase had started nodding even before Yamato finished his question. "I should be done with it today. The part I think will take the longest is storing everything in seals." He cast me a glance, one that had pity written all over.

    I shook my head. Silly boy, he didn't know that was the easiest, and most enjoyable part of the work. Seals were cool. I took my board, wrote my words. "If everything is already organized and prepared, it shouldn't take me long. Watch." I let the boys read the words then dug into my pouch for a small parchment. I placed it on the table, and put my finger on top of it. With an effort of will, my chakra spread over the paper, drawing squiggly black lines. After that, I took the empty thermos, placed it on the seal, activated it.

    Under three pairs of eyes, I stored my trusty thermos with my other stuff.

    Under three pairs of eyes, I gave them a V for victory.

    Under three pairs of confused eyes, my shoulders slumped. Damn, when would they start learning the cool modern symbols?

    "That's impressive Hinata-san." Yamato said when the silence stretched for too long. I just hung my head, defeated. If only they understood. Did I need to become Hokage to start some cool new trends? I shook my head. Forget it. That was sunshine's brat dream. I wanted no part of it.

    "That's decided then." Unaware of my despair, Yamato continued. "Tomorrow we leave for the Land of Waves."

    I perked up. Not Konoha?

    "Not Konoha?" Hayase mirrored my question.

    "No, this is too important to afford the delay." Yamato traced a line in the map. "We'll cut through the Land of Hot Waters. Speed is our priority now. If that facility was used to hold prisoners we need to find it as soon as possible." We nodded, but Yamato wasn't done with his orders. "Sai, I'll trouble you to contact the village with your ink constructs. You'll relay the basics of the information and request reinforcements."

    There were more technical details after that. New protocols to follow. Land of Waves was, after all, home to Kiri. Transgressing into another hidden village's domain was asking for trouble. I wasn't sure how Yamato planned to smooth things over, if he even planned to. My guess was that our best bet was to just not get found out.

    But even with all that important information being bandied about, something else was on my mind. Land of Waves means Naruto's Bridge. That made me think of Tsunami. There was this strange fluttering feeling in my belly. Silly as it might be, I wouldn't mind being mommied over again by her. Her mom's energy was top notch, and now that I decided to stop deceiving myself, I did enjoy being fussed over by her. It made me think of my own mom in the before.

    I missed her.
     
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    • 5.23
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    • Packing up everything left me empty of chakra and exhausted. Hayase chatted all day long about this or that code, often trying for minutes to understand some new piece of information or another. I could understand his enthusiasm, but I just wasn't feeling the same. Mental breakdowns and gruesome autopsies weren't conducive to a happy mood. Even so, I nodded at the appropriate times, displaying the appropriate level of tired, but genuine interest. I liked that stuff, after all. I think Hayase got so into his own geekness he forgot to be weirded out by me.

    That night, chakra depleted and tired, Yamato excused me from the watch rotation. I wasn't going to complain. If ordered, I would have tried, but I don't think I was in any condition to stay awake and concentrate all night.

    Warm blankets embraced me. My eyes drooped. Before I fell asleep, I pushed my chakra one last time. Another Hinata-chan joined me under the blankets. It felt nice to cuddle with her. Sleep found me soon after.






    The feeling of being watched woke me up. The side of the bed was empty, my other self dispersed when I fell asleep. I cast my senses out, trying to feel anything that could point out why this kept happening.

    Two bundles of chakra, one was the familiar earthy flavored one that I knew was Yamato. Something about that was nagging at my mind, chakra flavor? Another, this one smaller, slept in the adjacent room. By the size, I knew it was Hayase. Which left the one at the living room as Sai.

    All around, other smaller bundles of chakras were moving around the camp. Sai's ink constructs. Somehow, my sensing range seemed to have expanded, or Sai was keeping his constructs closer. While I was still looking for the source of the disturbance, Sai's chakra churned. He held the new small bundle for a while, and soon after it left the house. It flew out of my perception range. I guess Sai was doing a staggered recon area. For a moment I thought my range had gone up.

    I brushed those thoughts away, sleepiness making me think strange things. I kept searching for what had woken me up, but when I caught myself dozing for the third time, I called it a bad job, tucked back into covers, and fell asleep once more. When I catch the peeping bastard, I'd teach them a lesson.






    We departed the next morning before dawn. Yamato unsummoned his awesome portable house. I adjusted my travel bag. Somehow, it fell to me to carry all the stuff we gathered. It was just paper seals, but outside their storage, they were bulky. I think Yamato was bullying me, or maybe obfuscating the fact he left me with the laboratory data. I wasn't sure.

    Yamato turned to our team, specifically the pale boy. "Sai, please report our new plans to Konoha. We'll use the same details we discussed yesterday."

    Sai nodded, pulled out a seal scroll, pencil and ink. With a flourish, he created an ink bird. The construct flew up and landed on his shoulders. Next, Sai took a more mundane piece of parchment, and held it to the bird. The ink thing swallowed the paper, fluttered its wings, took off flying.

    I followed the construct until it left the range of my chakra perception.

    "Stay focused, we will travel fast." Yamato advised, then started running.

    We stopped a few miles later. I judged that was far enough. Yamato gave me a considering look, Hayase looked nervous, Sai was just indifferent. That was fine, it was my moment. My hands flashed, out popped a clone. She was alert and ready. Eyes sparkling and face open in a full-wicked smile. Body swaying in anticipation. I understood her, I wanted to smile myself. But I didn't. I had better self control than my clones. I adjusted my footing. Found something to hold on to quiet questing hands.

    My clone, the awesomest Bomber-chan, gave me a nod, a salute. With a quick hop my way and a devious smirk, she took me into a hug and planted a kiss on my cheek. The gall of that gal! Three pairs of startled eyes stared at me. My ears burned. Damn it. The clones were getting out of control.

    With another cheeky grin, Bomber-chan saluted the three flabbergasted boys, then flickered away. I endured their curious gazes until I knew it was time. They might have asked more than a few questions. I didn't bother with answers. Pretended I hadn't heard it. I raised my hand, fingers splayed, then lowered one by one.

    5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I hoped they understood.

    The explosion was a muted thump that shook the world. It was glorious. Even prepared as I was, I windmilled to keep my balance. There was no plume of smoke or blast of fire. The hideout was too deep underground for that, but I did see a huge swath of trees toppling in the distance. Nice! Another good memory. I needed more of those.

    Yamato had crouched, both hands on the ground for support. Sai, fast on the uptake, had copied the jounin. Hayase was still trying to ask silly questions. Served him right, now he was picking himself up from the ground. With one last salute to Bomber-chan, the ever short lived, I turned around and led the way away. They wouldn't ask questions if we kept running, right?

    This time, we weren't worried about not being seen. Our pace was fast and demanding. We kept out of traveled paths, preferring to tree hop in a direct line toward our destination. Yamato set a grueling pace even for shinobis. We didn't even stop for lunch. The devil!

    Boy was I glad I didn't arrive in Middle Earth. With my size, I'm pretty sure I'd be a hobbit and that just wouldn't do. Imagine having to run all day long without second and third breakfast, without lunch even. Madness.

    We stopped when night fell. Yamato found us another hidden place among a copse of trees and summoned up another portable house. He didn't look tired. He barely looked winded. The cheating bastard.

    I shambled inside. An entire day of running was a different sort of torture. I might have gone a bit overboard with the weight seals too. It felt good to push myself. It wasn't as bad as hell month though. Hayase looked worse than me. He all but collapsed on the first cushion he could get his hands on.

    Sai, surprisingly, didn't look all that bad. His cheeks had a bit of color. An entire day of running was all that it took to put some color back on his skin. I guess I couldn't judge by appearances. I was expecting Sai to be the one half dead, with Hayase doing better at the prolonged exercise. Teaches me to make assumptions.

    My shambling took me to the kitchen. Yamato peeked inside before I could start cooking.

    "Something light Hinata-san. It won't end well if you cook anything heavy after an entire day of physical exertion."

    I nodded. That was a shame. I was in a mood for something more complex. In the end, I made a light veggie stew. It wasn't the best, but it was tasty. I served the food, got my bowl and sat by Sai's side. The boy cast a glance at me that I couldn't really understand. What was going on inside his head?

    I sipped my soup, popped my board. Tried again to mend a bridge I don't even know how I burned. "Bit of a silly question, but is painting your hobby?" I gave the pale boy a cheeky grin. I mean, I knew the question was silly. I was trying to appeal to his sense of humor here.

    Sai looked from his food to me, to the board, to the food again. I saw a flicker of something in his eyes. "No." He answered again in a tone that screamed: stop bothering me.

    I sighed. Well, this was getting sillier by the moment. I couldn't force someone to be my friend. I wasn't about to do a Naruto and annoy the shit outta of the guy until he became my best friend. I wasn't that patient, or desperate. I tried, that was more than enough for me. If he didn't want to connect, it was his loss, not mine. Now I could badmouth him in peace in the quiet of my mind.

    Yamato had observed the whole exchange. Hayase too. Awkward. I wonder what they were thinking. I unpopped my board, picked up my food, got up and went to sit with Hayase. It was time to geek over encrypted messages and learn more about them. I would need that knowledge soon enough if I was going to decipher Orochimaru's notes. And I guess geeking out with the older chunin would help him forget to be weirded out by all that lab business.






    The grueling travel pace continued until we had crossed the Land of Hot waters and arrived near the port city we would use to reach the Land of Waves. There, we had to assume our disguises again. There wasn't much to say about that leg of the trip. We purchased more supplies, purchased passage, contacted Konoha's spies for another report and updated info. I was glad to unload on those poor spies the loot from Orochimaru's hideout. Carrying that many dangerous, and potentially valuable, seals was nerve wracking.

    I kept the ones from the lab though, for a few reasons. Yamato agreed that giving those away before I had a chance to make a copy for myself could set me back for a while. The intelligence department wasn't in the business of giving away forbidden and valuable information. Orochimaru's experimentation data was highly valuable. I also hadn't told Yamato about the changed seals. I didn't want others to know about them just yet.

    As it was expected, Konoha wasn't prepared to send a full contingent of reinforcements. The situation was a cauldron waiting to boil over back at home. The jounin commander, however, promised at least one more team to support us. It just would take some time for them to arrive. A couple of days at earliest.

    That tidbit of information didn't change our plans. Yamato was right, we couldn't delay the mission to wait for reinforcements.

    We left the port city the day after we arrived.

    It wasn't a long journey, from Hot Waters to the Land of Waves. A full day's worth with the boat we managed to get passage on. For this next part, I cut back on the weight training. It was enemy territory now, and I wanted to be in top shape for the hideout. It might take one or two days to get the soreness out of my muscles, but based on the information we had, it would take a few days to arrive at the southern hideout.

    We didn't discuss the mission, nor did we use jutsu. We were inside enemy territory now, and any lack of focus could spell disaster. Inside our quarters, we had another coded conversation. Yamato reinforced the need for secrecy now. It was best to stay under the radar than cause a political incident for the village at this critical stage.

    A day of travel later, seasick and nauseated, we arrived at Mists territory. A distant part of my mind cursed Yamato's decision to play the civilian again. Why couldn't we just run over the water until we arrived here? Another part of me was sad that our path didn't take us close to The Great Naruto's Bridge. Maybe on the way back, I hoped. Another not so distant part wondered if Fate-kun would conspire against me and put Haku on my path again. That would be funny, wouldn't it?

    Disguised as traveling companions, we left the port city. There was no running today. Our objective was to reach the coast, near where the island was, and scout from there, while we waited for the reinforcements. We could have reached there in a few hours at a ninja go brrr speed, but again, we wanted to stay unnoticed. There was no way to say if the people in the hideout had spies nearby, nor did we want to alert Kiri about our presence.

    Problem was, the world didn't want us unnoticed.

    When we were a few hours away from the city, I noticed the first bundle of chakra. Further than I normally would. Did my perception range really increase? I thought it was dumb sleepy brain thoughts. Did confronting my inner demons give me a power up? I scoffed at that last thought.

    Noticing the chakra wasn't all that uncommon, sometimes, a blip of chakra passed near my perception. It happened often enough on Konoha or on the road that a single blip wasn't really worrying. But then there was a second, and a third, and a fourth and more. Worse, they were all around us. At the distance they were, they had stopped just shy of what once was my previous sensory range.

    How? Why? What gave us away? I looked up, Sai's bird was a small black dot in the sky, barely visible. How had these shinobi escaped Sai's notice?

    Urgency building inside me, I skipped forward closer to Yamato while still keeping up with my excited daughter persona. Tapped his shoulder, hands flashing with my code. A part of me really hoped these were our promised reinforcements. Warning. Shinobi. Strong. Surrounded. Quantity unknown.

    I was expecting Yamato to try to play it cool, try to investigate. It didn't happen. The man's hand flashed with seals. Out popped two wood clones, he barked orders and all hell broke loose.

    The enemy attacked. Each I could see was dressed in a dark uniform, with no visible markings. A featureless white mask with no opening for the mouth or nose. Kunais, exploding tags, smoke bombs, enemies flickering and trying to stab us in the back. More and more chakra blazes appeared around us. From the intensity, I couldn't think of anything else than chunins and jounins. My hands trembled. I gripped a kunai in return.

    The first few moments of the ambush was utter chaos. It also managed to separate our team.

    Out popped a shadow clone, just in time to intercept a shinobi trying to stab me. I whirled, parried another attack. I flickered to avoid a thrown shuriken, only to be hit by a chunk of earth protruding from the ground. I threw my explosive, in the ensuing boom, I took two other explosive tags, threw them and flickered again. Yamato wasn't far away, but there were so many shinobi between me and him that I couldn't approach. I tried.

    I kept fighting, and injuries kept pilling. I failed to dodge a punch. A shuriken found its way into my leg. A group attack from three other ninjas left me with a kunai stuck to my sides and having to flicker wildly to escape. Not even pumping my body full of chakra was enough. No matter what I tried, the enemy was prepared. My speed, which I considered my best asset, was matched and surpassed. It was like they knew everything that I could do.

    At some point, I found myself back to back with Sai, panting and trying to catch my breath. The nausea from the seasickness hadn't left me entirely. My legs still hurt from all that running.

    Sai stumbled into me when I was being attacked by two other shinobis, with my clone too far away to help fend them off. His ink counstructs swarmed the attacking enemies, forcing them to retreat.

    Now, I guarded his back and he guarded mine. Sai looked ragged and hurt, but still in better shape than me. His ink constructs were all over the place: birds, tigers, giants and more. Great distractions, keeping the enemy busy. Giving us a chance to breathe. By this point, I was about to throw caution to the wind. Using mokuton would leave me chakra drained, but what other choice did I have?

    I was cursing myself for not having prepared a beacon for my prototype thunder god jutsu. I had no idea where Hayase was, or what happened to Yamato. At some point, they just weren't in the range of my perception anymore.

    Before I pulled the big guns and burned myself with mokuton, I whispered a question to Sai. In the original story, the chunin was someone Danzo considered a prodigy. He was also more prepared, fit and powerful in battle than Hayase, who was years older. Even here, he managed to push away enemies I was having trouble dealing with. "Do you have a plan?" The pain on my throat was nothing compared to my worry about the others.

    There was a moment of silence, then I felt a prickle of pain on my neck. My body froze, my breath hitched. I couldn't move, couldn't keep my balance. I fell down. Sai's indifferent face made its way into my field of vision. Looked down on me.

    "Yes." He answered, voice emotionless. "It's working perfectly."

    His foot found my face and darkness claimed me.





    That's it for ARC5. I hope you guys enjoyed (and will forgive me for the massive cliff.)


    Proofreader: Awesomest of cakes, CakeEight.




    Overall, what you guys think?
    I tried to add a few hints of Sai's disposition from the start, like his instant "dislike" for Hinata, or the failed attempts to create rapport. There was also a few instances of Sai "sending" his ink birds in the middle of the night that Hinata took as him just performing recon, the biggest one being on the same day they found the destroyed village.
    That day, Sai sent out birds even when wasn't his time to be on lookout.
    This last chapter, there's a bit of difference, Hinata's perception range did increased. More on why will be left for future parts of the story, but she mistook the bird flying away as him just scouting further. The key point here is the bird staying near him for a some time.
    The scene with Yamato ordering Sai to send a message was just to contrast with the part where he did the same just a few paragraphs early. Again, the key point being the bird staying on his shoulder for a moment before flying away. It was a mirror to the previous action: the bird didn't flew immediately away because Sai was giving it messages to carry.
    Not sure if I was being too subtle with my hints here. I did try. I mean, I called him Cadaver Pale Sai. Can't get more foreshadowing than that, can it?





    Thank you again for reading.
     
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    • Chapter 6: Ginger, Honey and a Dash of Purple.
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    • Two days after the Sunagakure and Otogakure attack.



    Scattered piles of reports, slips of encrypted communication piled on a ceramic bowl, rolls of opened archived scrolls for reference, drawings, analysis, speculations, facts. Nara Shikaku's mind churned with cause and effect, choices and possibilities. He considered what he knew and the Third Hokage's last request.

    A knock at the door disturbed his concentration. The person outside didn't wait to be invited in. Inoichi's face looked even more drawn in and hard. His long-time friend pulled a chair and sat in front of Shikaku's desk, back pressing against the chair's rest, face turned to the ceiling, eyes closed.

    "You owe me a big one." Inoichi said without opening his eyes.

    Shikaku pulled back on his chair, hands resting on the desk. He waited. He knew his friend. There would be more said.

    Inoichi looked down. His face was even more haggard. "Ino will never forgive me if she learns of this. She's taken with Hinata."

    Shikaku shook his head, eyes finding the picture of his wife and son on the desk. He knew all too well how women could make life a living hell. He tore his gaze away from the images. It wasn't time to reminisce. "What did you find?"

    Inoichi shrugged. "Nothing we didn't already know." The jounin looked around.

    Shikaku noticed those details. His fingers moved, one of their signals from their time on the same team. 'Safe, private, speak freely.'

    "She's hiding something. I can't enter her mind. I don't believe she has any harmful intentions toward Konoha. I don't believe she's a willing spy, if she's a spy at all." The man shrugged. "I've read the reports, same as you did. They didn't let us make any attempts to earn her trust, why is the council now mad that she's keeping her secrets?"

    "Your opinion then?" It was just a formality. Shikaku already knew his friend's answer.

    "I'm endorsing her promotion to Chunin. It's the least I can do after interrogating her like that."

    Shikaku took a piece of paper, handed it over.

    "You're sending her away then?"

    The jounin commander looked at the pile of papers and reports again. "That's the best option we have."






    One day after Hinata left for her mission.



    "Those were not your orders." Mitokado Homura's calm voice wasn't enough to hide the man's dissatisfaction. "You were told to apprehend the girl, not promote her."

    Shikaku glanced from Homura to his counterpart, Koharu. As he often did these days, he wondered if they indeed held Konoha's best interests in mind, or about their fixation with Hinata. Those two, along with Danzo, have pushed for more drastic measures since day one.

    Shikaku shrugged. "I followed my orders."

    Koharu shifted on her seat, permanent squinting eyes and frowny face not making it easy to read the woman's mood. "Those were not—"

    It seemed it was now time for Koharu to push her rhetoric. Shikaku was tired of this. There was so much to do. He had to appease the Hyuga, send delegations to Sunagakure and Kirigakure to sound for an alliance, send a formal diplomatic mission to Iwagakure and Kumogakure. There might still be a chance to avoid war altogether. Some of the new information provided by Lord Jiraiya was a concern not only to Konoha. And yet, those two kept taking his time with pointless questions.

    "The Third Hokage's orders." He interrupted. The councilmen looked at each other, a thousand words with a glance.

    He considered saying more. Maybe appeal to their sense and explain the looming crisis. Or maybe remind them they couldn't order him around like they seem to think they could. In the end, he didn't have the time or patience. Shikaku's goal was to hold the fort until a new Hokage was appointed. After that, he could dump this pile into their lap and return to his real work.

    He got up and left the meeting room without being dismissed, his mind already preoccupied with the more pressing issues. However, a nagging thought kept returning to his mind: both councilmen were acting, in many ways, the same way when Danzo was still a council member. Had the man left at all?






    Around two weeks after the start of Hinata's mission.



    Not for the first time, Shikaku tried to decipher the mystery that Hinata was. How had she known about Danzo's actions and plans? Even Danzo had been taken by surprise by that knowledge. The old traitor reacted fast when an ANBU squad was assembled to interrogate him, but not fast enough to get rid of all the evidence.

    The details of ROOT activity, human experimentation, forbidden seals to ensure compliance, plans to deal with the Uchiha clan. Worse yet, the confirmation that he had a stolen Sharingan beneath that bandaged face. One that no one could trace the source of. None of the clan's records had information about a missing eye. By all accounts, every dead Uchiha was accounted for.

    In the end, how had Hinata known? He read the transcription of her reports. Seven years ago, Hinata already knew about Akatsuki, even pointed them out by name and described some of their members, as well Orochimaru's involvement with that group. She also implied they were behind the Kyuubi attack eleven years ago.

    Shikaku could understand the many frustrated egos regarding this situation. Hinata's secrets could be invaluable. And instead of fostering her trust, the council made sure she was alienated. Shikaku put the paper down, looked back at the picture of his loving, fierce wife. Was this their plan all along? Drive Hinata away from the village?

    A knock interrupted his thoughts. Shikaku shelved that analysis to pick it up again later. He hid the secret reports, all the confidential information, disabled the privacy seal. Once he was ready, he called out. "Come in."

    The visitor was one of the Intelligence department chunin in charge of external communication. The boy had a rolled up parchment in his hand. "A report from Yamato, sir."

    Shikaku waved the boy closer, took the still sealed parchment. "Thank you." He dismissed, mind already full with the implications. Once the chunin left, he broke the seal and read the report.

    It was surprisingly light on details. They found a hideout, cleared the place, found a lead to a second place in Kirigakure where Orochimaru kept prisoners. Something about the report bothered Shikaku. He got up from his desk, moved to the door. Poked his head out. The intelligence room was still the same, frantic organized chaos it ever was.

    "I need to speak with Hatake Kakashi, send a bird, please?"

    He didn't wait for a response. Shikaku got back to his table and started to consider options. Who could he send? If he wanted to change things and start fostering Hinata's loyalty, a familiar face would be preferable. Kakashi, perhaps? He discarded that idea. Kakashi's expertise was needed elsewhere. Naruto was away with Lord Jiraiya, searching for Tsunade. Sasuke wasn't in any condition to travel, the young Uchiha's heir suffering from some unknown malediction.

    That left only one option. Inoichi would have his head for this.

    Before he got up, he felt the presence in his room. He looked up. Kakashi was inside his office, leaning by the door. Never one to abide by protocol, that one. He met with the detached eyes of the white haired jounin. "Thank you for coming. I need your expertise." He got up, walked closer and handed Kakashi the report from Yamato.

    Kakashi read the report, then reread it. "ANBU code. There isn't much aside from that he couldn't put that information on the report. Too dangerous for long distance communication."

    Shikaku sighed. That didn't make things easy. More plans started to form. Could he still send Ino's team?

    "I heard of your disagreement with the council," Kakashi's voice interrupted Shikaku's thoughts.

    The jounin commander looked back at Team Seven's leader, all too aware of Kakashi's opinion regarding Hinata. "I fear that's a mistake we'll all pay for." He didn't say more. There was no need.

    Kakashi nodded. Turned and left without saying anything else. Shikaku made up his mind. Poked his head out of the door again. "Please send a bird for Sarutobi Azuma. There's a new urgent mission for his team."

    Maybe he could still salvage this situation.
     
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    • 6.2.i
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    • "Pack up, we're leaving for a mission."

    Ino looked up from her food to Asuma-sensei. The trio had started eating while they waited for their teacher. The man looked haggard and tired. He hadn't even sat down yet and was already dropping bombs. Team Ten was at their usual barbeque place, Yakiniku Q. Choji was stuffing his face like usual, Shikamaru looked even more annoyed than normal.

    "Troublesome."

    Choji despaired. "What? No! We just started lunch!"

    Ino put the chopsticks down, cleaned her mouth with a napkin. She was as annoyed, if not more so, than the rest of the team, but there was no need to be immature about it. "What is the mission?"

    Asuma-sensei looked at the table, the food, and the empty chair that was his usual place. He sighed, sat down. "Another team has requested reinforcements for an infiltration, asset acquisition and possible extraction mission."

    Shikamaru scowled. "Why the hell are they sending us?"

    Asuma-sensei sighed again, lit a cigarette. "Short staffed."

    Shikamaru's scowl didn't go away. Ino knew him well enough to know that they would only waste time if she didn't change the talk to something more productive. "What are the mission details? What do we need to prepare?"

    Asuma-sensei nipped the cigarette at the table. He hadn't taken a single puff. He looked at the food, took a piece of meat, chewed, spoke after he swallowed. "The details are confidential and are not to be discussed outside our team. Not to friends, family, or any other shinobi that might ask, do you understand?"

    Ino nodded. Shikamaru shrugged. Choji stuffed his face even more.

    Asuma-sensei placed both hands on the table. "About two weeks ago, a team left looking for the hideout of the enemy that attacked Konoha. They—"

    "A single four-man cell?" Shikamaru interrupted. Ino glared at the chunin, but he wasn't paying attention to her; his face was grave. Asuma-sensei's answer was a single nod. "A full complement of jounin?" Sensei shook his head. "Shit."

    "The team succeeded. They found the hideout, and there, they found information about where captured enemies are kept. The jounin in command sent a notice requesting reinforcements, and his team went ahead to scout and prepare a plan of attack in this new location."

    "What will we be up against?" Ino asked.

    Asuma-sensei shrugged. "No idea. The first place they found was teeming with traps but abandoned. There was some experiment gone wrong rampaging nearby, which they put down. There was no information on whether this new place was still in use or what defenses there were."

    "Who is the other team? What are their capabilities? What do we need to prepare?" Shikamaru shot in quick succession.

    "A jounin and three chunin. The jounin's name is Yamato, age twenty-four. Graduated from the academy at six, and was promoted to chunin that same year. He has the same ability as the first Hokage to control wood."

    Choji dropped his food. Shikamaru cursed. Ino didn't know what to think. Chunin at six? What sort of bullshit was that?

    "Hayase, age eighteen. Member of the intelligence department. From the mission briefing I received, his main role is support. Data analysis and strategy."

    "Sai, age fourteen. Combat ninjutsu specialist. Can summon an array of ink constructs, which he uses for communication, recon, and combat."

    Asuma-sensei stopped, looked at the rest of the team, then fixed his eyes on Ino. Her stomach churned. She didn't like the look in his eyes.

    "Hinata, age twelve. Logistics specialist."

    Choji choked on his food. It was Ino's time to scowl. From what she understood, the mission was almost like a suicide one; why the hell was Hinata involved? Was that because of her storage seals? Ino knew they were good; she saw them often enough to know it wasn't the normal fare. And chunin, since when? Was this what her father was hiding from her? Ino knew him well enough to know something had happened and he was keeping it a secret.

    Choji removed the food from his mouth only to stick his foot. "Hinata? Why? She lost to Naruto. What's she doing on such a mission? And since when is she a chunin?"

    Shikamaru face-palmed. Ino just shook her head. Asuma-sensei's face, however, was grave.

    "Hinata, age twelve. Logistic specialist." The man repeated, eyes not leaving Choji. "Former member of the Hyuga clan, proficient at combat, can use shadow clones, can use jutsu without hand seals, is effectively immune to genjutsu. Like Yamato, she can use mokuton. She fought and killed three chunin during the attack. She killed the full Otogakure team during the Forest of Death preliminary exam, fought and survived a battle against an S-Rank missing-nin, fought and survived against an A-Rank missing-nin on her first mission outside the village. Created a new type of explosive tag with at least five times the yield of normal ones. Created a new type of storage seal that can store four times more while using three times less space."

    The silence stretched. No one said anything.

    Asuma-sensei pressed. "Yes, that Hinata." He sighed. "Look, Choji, I know you're trying, but yes, that silly-looking, happy-go-lucky girl who likes to give candy to everyone is the most dangerous person on that team beside the jounin. You can't judge a ninja just from their appearance. Hinata has done an excellent job of building a harmless persona. Don't be tricked like many others."

    Ino disagreed with Asuma's assessment. She didn't believe for a second that Hinata was putting on an act. That was just how she was. Ino's lips curled into a smile. It was fitting, she guessed. Cute on the outside, deadly when provoked. Like an adorable kitten.

    "What are you smiling about?" Choji complained. "You got tricked by her too!"

    Asuma got up and lit another cigarette. "Finish eating, pack up everything you think might help. We'll meet at the mission hall in one hour." He didn't wait for their response and flickered away.

    "What? No!" Choji cried out. "What about dessert?"

    "How troublesome," Shikamaru complained again.

    Ino pushed the food away. Her appetite was gone. "See you guys in a bit." She turned around, left for her house. One hour wasn't enough time to prepare. She took to the roofs, or as Hinata liked to say, Konoha's Shinobi exclusive lanes. Ino rolled her eyes and smiled. Strange. When did remembering Hinata's silliness become nostalgic?

    She dropped at the store entrance and rushed inside. Her mother was at the counter; there were no clients in the store. "Mom, I got a mission. It's confidential. I'm leaving in one hour." She didn't wait for an answer. She rushed up to her room and started packing.

    Kunai, explosives, wire, parchment, makeup, skincare, haircare, bandages—she made sure the essentials were secured. Her eyes found the letter Naruto had delivered a few weeks back. She took it, read the neatly written letters, pulled the parchment closer, smelled it—cherry blossoms. Another smile came to Ino's face. Hinata wasn't one to use perfume herself, but it was a nice touch to send a perfumed parchment.

    She folded the letter again, then, after a moment of deliberation, stored it in her pouch as well. Lastly, she packed the few remaining seals she received from Hinata. Those were supposed to last for months. Hinata knew she might be away for a long time. Ino was ashamed to admit she might have… over indulged. Maybe just a bit.

    "That's fine." She said to no one in particular. "Just need to help her finish the mission and return. Then I can get more."
     
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    • Hidden in the tree's canopy, squirrel-Ino nibbled the nut, looked at the lone shinobi in the clearing.

    The shinobi wore the standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit with a green haori and white trimmings over it. She had a brown sash with a fringed trail wrapped twice around the waist. She wore light-brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as the kimono. The hair gathered in a white bun holder while two locks fell loose, framing a beautiful face. A dainty hand pulled the hair out of the girl's face. The nail polish on her fingernails matched her toenails—soft blue-green. The shinobi wore a black forehead protector with the Kirigakure's symbol.

    This whole mission had become a mess of untold proportions. Konoha's spies, who should have greeted them at the port city, prepared Team Ten disguise and transportation, were AWOL. That forced Team Ten to water-run the whole night to reach the main island.

    The main island wasn't any better. Kirigakure shinobi squads fighting each other and attacking without provocation, aggressive locals, corrupt officials—it was one problem after another. What should have taken four days had turned into a week-long slog of hiding, evading, or fleeing enemies. Now, they arrived at the meeting point, only to find a lone Kiri shinobi waiting for them.

    It had to be a trap, but it was so out there that Ino wasn't sure, not anymore.

    The shinobi description also sparked something in her mind. Maybe something Hinata said? Ino wasn't sure. Squirrel-Ino took one last nibble of the treat, then she released the jutsu, already regretting not having finished eating the acorn. Now back where her body rested and her team was gathered, she organized her thoughts. "There's a single Kirigakure shinobi waiting there in the open. I don't think it's a trap."

    Asuma-sensei scratched his chin, gave them new orders. "I'll meet with them. Get ready to back me up if things go south."

    Team Ten moved into formation, with Ino ready to use her family jutsu again, Shikamaru to take over the enemy's shadow, and Choji to smash, if needed.

    Ino didn't like this situation. Political considerations aside, why was a Kirigakure shinobi waiting where Hinata's team was supposed to be? A gnawing pit of worry ravaged her stomach. She felt sick. Her hands itched.

    Asuma-sensei walked inside the clearing. The target noticed him. Waved. The jounin stopped a few paces away. Words were exchanged.

    "Can you hear what they're saying?" Ino found herself asking Shikamaru. The genin shook his head. Ino bit her lip, eyes scanning the surroundings for an ambush.

    Down in the clearing, Asuma turned toward them, signaled to approach. Ino moved from her position until she was by Asuma's side.

    "This is my team." Sensei said, gesturing to each in turn. "Shikamaru, Ino and Choji."

    The shinobi, a pretty teenage girl a few years older than Ino, looked at each of them in turn. Bowed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Haku."

    That name was familiar. Shikamaru tsked, looked away. Choji looked smitten. Ino tilted her head. The memory was almost there. Then she remembered; a conversation Hinata mostly glossed over. As usual, the mute girl was more interested in talking about the sweets and the people who got to eat them. "That Haku?" The words escaped her mouth. It wouldn't be that same person, would it? That Haku wasn't a Kirigakure shinobi, but allied with a missing-nin named Zabuza. No, wait, what was it that Hinata said? That Haku pretended to be a Kirigakure shinobi, but they had become somewhat friends by the end.

    Asuma turned her way, one eyebrow up.

    "Do we know each other?" Haku's melodious voice asked.

    Ino blinked, shuffled under their scrutiny. She got distracted. "Ah, no. A friend told me about someone she met once with that name." How was she supposed to pass on the information to Asuma-sensei without causing a commotion? Ino regretted not dedicating more time to learn and train her family jutsu. If she'd only learned that one that let her send mental messages to her teammates.

    "Haku is a representative of Kirigakure," Asuma said, his voice neutral. "We're invited to meet with one of their leaders regarding an incident from a few days ago."

    Choji, who had finally stopped looking at Haku's face, asked. "Which incident?"

    "A group of unknown shinobi caused a commotion nearby." Another voice answered. Ino turned to look. This time it was a tall, muscular man with grayish skin and short spiky black hair. He wore bandages like a mask, covering the lower part of his face, and the forehead protector sideways. He wore a black shirt and trousers under a gray flak jacket. A huge sword on his back. Ino noticed, the man was missing an arm.

    Asuma was instantly on guard, he moved between his team and the newcomer, trench knife in hand. Tension skyrocketed at the newcomer's arrival.

    "You're Momochi Zabuza!" Ino blurted out.

    For the second time, all eyes were on her. The man, she remembered his nickname now, Demon of the Mist, chuckled. It was creepy. "Even little girls know of me now? I'm flattered."

    "You're a missing-nin, what are you doing here?" Ino blurted.

    Zabuza looked at them, posture relaxed, like facing a whole team from Konoha wasn't an issue. "That's a topic we can discuss in another place. You'll come with us. There's someone that wants to meet you."

    Asuma's face was serious. "And what if we don't?"

    The missing-nin shrugged, unimpressed. His sole hand went to the sword pommel, and he gripped it. "Then someone will die."

    Before things could escalate further, Haku sighed. "You're doing this on purpose." She cursed. "Are you still holding a grudge?"

    Zabuza released the sword and chuckled again. Still creepy. "An unknown enemy force attacked a group of shinobi from Konohagakure. Two of yours escaped the ambush. One of them is injured and not in condition to travel. We found them, took them in."

    Ino's heart rate spiked. Was that Hinata's team? And only two? What happened to the other two? "Are you keeping them hostages?"

    It was Haku who answered. She shook her head. "No, but also yes."

    Asuma-sensei gripped his trench knives tighter, Shikamaru cursed under his breath. Choji complained. "What is that supposed to mean?"

    "The fourth Mizukage learned about this incident, and has taken an interest in our guests."

    Ino remembered her lessons. Karatachi Yagura was considered a bloody, despotic leader, and the reason why Kirigakure was also known as Bloody Mist. "What does he want with them?"

    "What do you think, little girl?" Zabuza mocked. "What does a bloody tyrant do with spies from an enemy village?"

    "What Zabuza is trying to say," Haku interrupted again before things could escalate, "Is that unless we do something about it, the two Konohagakure shinobi are in deep trouble."

    "You're talking about a coup." Shikamaru, who had been silent until now, spoke. "And you're using Konoha shinobi as leverage to force our hand."

    Zabuza looked at Shikamaru. "Look at that. At least one of these brats can think."

    "I'm not a brat," Ino muttered, but no one paid her any attention.

    "We'll follow you." Asuma-sensei said finally, "But if there is any sign of treachery, we'll end you."

    Zabuza laughed. He turned to Asuma-sensei. "Sarutobi Asuma. You were in my bingo book. But you're no Sharingan Kakashi. I may have lost an arm, but you're still no match for me." His gaze turned to the rest of the team; it was intense and full of madness.

    Sweat beaded on Ino's brow, she could barely breathe. A wave of dread washed over her. She wanted to scream, and she wanted to flee. Her legs felt weak, she felt like spilling her guts.

    "And these brats are useless. A bit of killing intent and they're already quaking like little ducks."

    Before Ino could do anything, Hinata's face flashed in her mind. She remembered that one time she asked the mute girl about the person who attacked her in the forest. The one now Ino knew was an S-Class shinobi. She remembered Hinata's faraway look and shudder. She also remembered that Hinata fought and survived.

    "Stop it, or I'll put you down," Asuma growled.

    Ino bit down on the insides of her cheek. Coppery taste filled her mouth, but the need to flee lessened. "Who— " she started, coughed. "Who are you keeping hostage?"

    Zabuza gave her a considering look. The wave of dread lessened and then disappeared entirely. "The Mokuton Shinobi and the injured guy he was lugging around."

    The world fell from under Ino's feet at his words.
     
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    • The evil turtle roared in the distance, soon followed by yet more explosions.

    Ino wiped the blood off her mouth with her one good hand. She tried moving the other, winced at the pain. She'd been too late to release the jutsu, suffered some of the damage as well.

    Out in the distance, the chaos of battle was dying down. The gigantic three-tailed spiky turtle was finally defeated, with limbs bound in wood, and the parts not tied down covered in boiling lava. It was a mess. How did a simple meeting with that woman, Terumi Mei, turn into such a disaster?

    She looked around, tears falling from her eyes. The field was in ruins, littered with craters and bodies and blood.

    "You're alright?" Choji's hoarse voice found Ino's ears. She heard sniffling, then a muffled sob. "I thought… I thought."

    Ino looked up from where her body had been propped against a rock. Choji's chakra still burned in soft blue light, covering his fists, sprouting from his back, like butterfly wings. The chubby boy was no more. He looked gaunt, like someone who lived a lifetime of starvation.

    "Thank—" He started, but his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he toppled forward.

    "Choji!" Ino cried out, tried to get up, then cried out again. One of her legs was broken, bent in the wrong direction. She looked around. There was no one near her that she trusted to help. She couldn't find Shikamaru or Asuma-sensei.

    Gritting her teeth, Ino crawled closer to the unconscious boy. Time was of the essence here. She crawled to his side and, once there, dug into his pockets and pouches until she found the antidote. She pried open Choji's mouth and put the small pill inside. With luck, it would be enough to cancel the effects of his clan's secret medicine.

    Ino tried to stand, but her arm gave away, and she fell on top of Choji. She didn't try to get up again. It hurt too much, and she was too tired. The last thing she thought was: At least now Choji can say a beauty fell all over him.






    Ino gripped her crutches with white-knuckled fingers. Choji was still unconscious, but not in danger anymore. Shikamaru had suffered injuries, but his injuries were the least serious of the team. Asuma-sensei's injuries were serious, but the man behaved like they were nothing at all. With the three of them was the other Konoha shinobi, the mokuton user called Yamato.

    The man looked even more haggard than Choji had been. Dark circle under his already large dark eyes. His uniform was in need of serious repair, and the blotches of dried blood glared against the green color of the flak jacket.

    Ino wasn't supposed to be here. By all accounts, she should be in bed, resting. But she had to hear it.

    "We were attacked by a large force of shinobi, at least a dozen." Yamato said, shoulders slump. "Somehow, the enemy knew our team's capabilities, and how to disable my tracking method. Soon after the battle started, I lost track of Sai and Hinata."

    "Is she—" Ino choked. Eyes turned toward her, but she couldn't finish the question.

    Yamato shook his head. "Unlikely." He looked around, like searching for an invisible person. "Haku told me disturbing news that might be tied to this. For years now, bloodlimit shinobi have gone missing. They suspect the same group is responsible for the ambush."

    Ino worked her jaw, trying to speak through a full throat. "And you think they took her because of her ability to manipulate wood?"

    Yamato cast a brief glance at Asuma-sensei. Ino didn't miss the silent communication between both jounin. "It could be," he said finally.

    Ino pressed. "Can't you locate her? You said you had a way to track your team."

    Asuma looked at her. Shook his head. "Ino, enough."

    "My tracking method only lasts for a certain period of time," Yamato admitted, looking away. "With the ease Hinata-san seal's provided, we kept everything stored. All her personal items were lost in the ambush."

    With trembling hands, Ino took the envelope from her pouch, then the perfumed letter from inside it. Under intense eyes, she took the seals with the stored cupcakes. "Could we track her with this? She gave me this before leaving for her mission."






    Ino stood at the cubicle entrance, hands gripping the forehead protector and black shirt that were part of Hinata's outfit. She noticed the patches of dried blood scattered on the ground and walls. Her eyes fixed on the bloody chains hung from the ceiling. Was this where they kept her? Was this where they tortured her? Ino's chest hurt. She had trouble breathing.

    With the letter and seals and a lot of effort, a hunter team from Kirigakure managed to track down this hidden prison. Only the place was already empty. There were signs of battle outside and inside. Blood, explosion and discarded items that hadn't been taken away. Among those, they found the remains of Hinata's clothing. Remains that Ino now clung to her chest.

    They knew that, somehow, Hinata had managed to escape the cell. Yamato confirmed the dead shinobis outside had the hallmark of Hinata's explosions all around. There was also another trail that led away, one that ended up near a cave a few hours out. There were a lot more trails, other shinobi in pursuit. But from there, the trails just disappeared. It was like Hinata vanished out of thin air. What did her captors do to prevent her from being tracked? There were no signs of struggle at the end of the trail. How had they taken Hinata again, and where had they taken her after?

    Asuma-sensei approached, placed a hand on Ino's shoulder. The touch should have been comforting, but it wasn't. Ino held in a shudder.

    "Come, Ino. We have to leave. We're returning to Konoha."

    Ino didn't look away from the bloody chains. Her voice was flat. "Are they giving up on her?"

    "No," Asuma-sensei said after a brief pause. "But the trail has gone cold. Without any new clues, there's nothing we can do here. Returning to Konoha and reporting the situation is our best bet."

    Excuses after excuses. They were giving up. Ino knew it in her gut. She nodded, turned, and left.






    The mission to Kirigakure was reclassified as S-Rank. Her first S-Rank mission, and Ino couldn't muster the will to care about it. Her dad tried to talk about it, but Ino ignored the attempt. She hadn't forgiven him for what he'd done to Hinata. Her mother hinted she was there if Ino needed anything, but it felt hollow.

    In the days following her return to Konoha, Ino talked less and less with her friends, spending more and more time training. Sometimes, she'd meet with Naruto, who had also returned from a month-long trip. He cried when he heard the news. Ino cried telling him the news.

    A few times, she met with Sasuke, who was still sick, but getting better. More often, she met with Sakura, but her friend was distracted. Ino knew the signs: Boy trouble, and it wasn't Sasuke.

    A new Hokage was appointed, Ino didn't participate in the ceremony. Shikamaru was promoted to chunin, Ino wasn't in the mood to celebrate with her team.

    It was silly, but all Ino could think about was getting stronger. If she were stronger, she could look for her friend on her own. If she were stronger, Choji wouldn't have to eat his clan's secret medicine to protect her. If she were stronger, Hinata wouldn't need to leave Ino behind.

    She punched the wooden dummy again. Her fist was bloodied. The tears hadn't stopped falling.

    Ino knew it was irrational. She didn't care.
     
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    • I remember a time in the before when all I wanted was to sleep. Dad had passed away not long before. Mom didn't have the mental bandwidth to worry about all the trouble that followed, her job, the press attention, and the death threats. It was, now that I think about it, closer to how I felt after finding the clones.

    No, wait. That example got away from me. Point is, for a time, I just couldn't care about caring for myself. It took Kimby's literal bitch slapping me into action to leave that funk. Huh, dear chubby Kimberly. I hope that bitch Veronica didn't mess with my bae too much.

    Argh, no, that wasn't what I wanted to think as well. The real point is, at that time, I felt like I had no control over myself. I knew what I had to do, I just couldn't. After our first kiss, Kimby had asked me about that time, and no amount of words was enough to explain how I felt. I think she never had the frame of reference to understand.

    But for the last time, the real point of this strange monologue was, I knew I had to do something. And I couldn't. But this time, it wasn't some sort of mental fugue keeping me down. It was just physical abuse.

    In the brief moments my consciousness surfaced from that haze, things just turned worse. I learned pretty quickly that moving was a bad idea, circulating chakra was an even worse idea. Trying to look around only earned me punishment.

    I remembered bits and pieces. The ambush, getting separated from the team. Meeting up with Sai, his betrayal. Why?

    As far as I could piece together, things took a strange turn. I was a bonafide kunoichi in distress now. Captured and kept under constant physical strain. That one took me a while to puzzle out why. A conversation helped me understand.

    It was one of brief moments when I surfaced, half lucid, and still confused. I tried to lash out, move and get away. The hit to the head left me reeling and seeing stars. The comment after was illuminating.

    "Again?" A voice I didn't recognize asked.

    "Third time today," another voice answered.

    I groaned, which was a mistake. Something else hit me.

    "She's tenacious." A third voice said.

    "She can regenerate, use jutsu without hand seals, can use shadow clones, and will murder everyone here if she ever wakes up." An emotionless voice said. It felt familiar, but I couldn't place a face to the voice.

    At the time I remember thinking that I wouldn't murder everyone. I wasn't a murder hobo, after all.

    That bit of information got stuck in my head. Each time I woke up, that conversation kept returning. I think I know why this is happening. Whoever was keeping me prisoner was well aware of what I could do. How do you keep captive a shinobi that doesn't need hand seals, can clone herself and is a regenerator? They went with the brute force approach, I guess. Keep that shinobi on the brink of death.

    After understanding that, I tried to fake being hurt. Not that I really need to fake it out. I was hurt. But I was trying to get a few needed moments to center myself, and assess the situation. It didn't help. Those bastards seemed to be on a schedule. Punishment would come on a timely basis, even if I tried to play the fake card.

    There was more conversation I heard, that helped with more context.

    "… not sure when we can move…" a voice said.

    "…Kirigakure ninjas up in arms…"

    "…routes guarded, civil war preventing…"

    "…a giant wall of trees blocking the way…"

    "…reinforcements sniffing around…"

    It was strange that even when not in any condition to do anything, my mind still roamed. Those tidbits helped me come up with a few assumptions. I'm guessing the kidnap attempt ended up going up in flames when Yamato summoned wood to help him escape. That would put the whole of Kiri on alert, not to mention the reinforcements from Konoha. I wasn't sure about the civil war one, but maybe it was something related to their Kage being a puppet? In the end, my guess was that the kidnappers had no choice but to go underground and wait until the fires died down.

    That at least gave me some hope that Yamato was still alive. But what about Hayase?

    Again, I wasn't sure how much time had passed, all of it was a blur. Most of my mental faculties were busy contending with the pain. There were a few acute points that worried me. First and foremost, my head. Even trying to think was agony. It felt like they cracked my skull and scrambled my brain. I didn't even know brains could hurt, but I swear it did.

    Then my arms and hands. I think they were broken. The position I was in, I think somehow I was hanging from my hands.

    Two other problems were the injuries from the battle. My sides where that shinobi managed to stab me with a kunai was pure fiery agony. The smallest of breaths was like lava spreading from there. The other was the puncture on my thighs. Had these savages removed the embedded shuriken? It didn't feel like they did, not with how much pain radiated from there. My eyes were swollen and closed shut.

    All in all, I was thoroughly fucked. In a real bad way. But I had a plan. I just needed more time.

    Even with all their preparations, one thing they couldn't prevent was me sensing the chakra around. I had a good impression of this hidey-hole layout. It was easy when the whole complex was surrounded by a layer of chakra that felt dangerous. This same layer also prevented me from sensing anything outside the complex. That let me know how many people I had to contend with. I also had a fairly good idea how strong they were. There were two I would consider jounin levels of chakra, five that I was thinking of as chunin. There were more chakra signatures around, but those were low ones, genin, probably, and given how they didn't move, I was inclined to think they were also prisoners.

    My plans didn't involve saving any of them. Yes, that was brutal, and by all accounts of morality, I should help these people. I felt bad that I was following in Orochimaru's footsteps here and choosing to not burden myself with the traps of morality, at least for this instance. I wanted to live, I was going to live.

    Peeking on shinobies through chakra perception let me learn a few of their patterns. Every few hours, a three man cell— jounin and two chunin— left. They never stayed away for long. Sometimes one hour, sometimes less. Sometimes, they took some of the imprisoned genin with them; other times, they brought more. I had my suspicions about things but, back to my plan.

    Maybe because my lack of visible resistance lulled the enemies into going easy. Maybe they mistook how much my regeneration was capable of. The more time passed, the more alert and aware of my surroundings I was. That gave me an urgent feeling that I had to get the hell outta of here. The sooner, the better.

    It wasn't going to be easy. Careful probing told me a few things: I don't think I was naked— thank god— but I wasn't wearing my shinobi gear. My weight seals weren't on me anymore, my bag of supplies was awol. My hands were tied to the walls, maybe ceiling. The feelings from there left me thinking about Iron chains, maybe.

    No explosions, no kunai, no shinobi gear. Impaired vision, hurt, thirsty and hungry.

    Thankfully, it wasn't the worst-case scenario. If I could release the shackles from my arms and legs, I could puppeteer my body with threads. I was also planning on using them to get a good feel for my surroundings. Made me think of a spider spreading her silk.

    Timing was going to be of the essence here. I was on a clock. The three-man squad had already left, taking two genin with them. They would be back soon. I already had my chakra primed and ready, a single thought away from creating a beacon nearby. Now I just needed my jailer to piss off for a moment. Perhaps Fate-kun heard my pleas. The jailer left the cell, and the replacement was still a few rooms away.

    I pushed my chakra. It burned, most of my reserves tanked. The beacon blossomed in my mind.

    For the first time ever, I activated my jutsu. There was this brief moment of confusion. I was hanging by my hands, then I flopped on the ground on top of the wood kunai. My chakra exploded around with countless threads. I couldn't see, but I didn't need to see.

    I wasn't confident I could move on my own. Threads wrapped around my limbs. Jerky hand swatted the hardwood kunai, my beacon. I heard voices from the other side of the door, my escape hadn't been unnoticed. Wood kunai in hand, I flickered forward, appearing behind the chunin that had just left the cell.

    He might have been too surprised to react. My hand grabbed his neck. The other pushed the kunai below his chin, up to his brain. The man flailed, I let the body topple.

    There was this moment of silence, before the place turned to chaos. The replacement was now rushing my way. The jounin and one other chunin were fast approaching as well. The trapped genin started screaming. Some cursed, others yelled for me to help them.

    With my threads, I forced my swollen eyes open. I was doing my best to ignore the horrendous amount of pain I was in. If I stopped to think about that, I might just pass out, which wouldn't do. With hazy vision, I noticed the place looked like a dank, dark cellar. There were several small cubicles barred by metal. Inside, children and teenagers yelling and screaming for help.

    A flash of red behind one of the cubicle doors caught my attention, but I had other things to do before anything else. I had a few precious moments to assess the situation; a quick scan didn't reveal anything I could use as a weapon. I doubled over and snatched the tool belt from the dead chunin. Smoke bombs, shuriken, kunai, wire. Useful, but nothing vital.

    I was out of time. The replacement chunin was about to enter the cellar. The door burst open, I threw the hardwood kunai. The kunoichi, a girl this time, walked in, and I pushed my flying thunder god prototype again. She tried to dodge the kunai, unaware that the real threat was me. I teleported in the air near the beacon. I snatched the weapon before it collided with the walls. With my other hand, I stabbed the kunoichi with the kunai I stole from the dead guy. Or I tried. My hand was empty. The kunai hadn't teleported with me. The stab turned into a punch, which gave me time to move my other hand and stab with the beacon.

    I felt around with the threads. Yes, my clothes were left behind.

    Huh, look at that. That emotionless voice person was right. I was absolutely going to murder the fuck out of everyone. In my birthday suit. Murder-exhibitionist-hobo me, I guess.


    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Monday.
    Proofreader: CakeEight.

    An update about my backlog: I finished on wed writing arc6. It goes up to 6.19. There is one chapter on that bunch I'm still on the fence about, but I liked how most of them turned out.
    Now I need to write another chapter, this one from Naruto's POV.

    Sunshine brat in: Where is this granny-ttebayo?

    I will admit I'm kinda excited to write arc seven. Ooh, I do see many nice things in my head. I hope I can put them to paper! Or to the page, in this case.
     
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    • The murdering turned out to be easy, in a certain definition of easy. After killing the kunoichi, I threw the smoke bomb through the door. Right now, I was navigating with my chakra sense and threads—thread-vision? Thread-sense? Blocking the enemy vision gave an advantage for this next confrontation.

    On the other side of the door, it seemed like a bigger underground storage sort of room. It was a large square shaped room, with a lot of wooden boxes and sacks inside. Now that I could sense the room, I noticed there were two more doors. From the mental layout I constructed, I don't think I ever saw anyone using the one at the side of this warehouse. The important passage was the one on the opposite side from where I was, from where the jounin levels of chakra just entered through. That was the path that led out of the complex.

    By my count, there were still two more shinobi in the complex. Kill the jounin, kill the chunin waiting two rooms down, don't die, escape. Easy.

    I waited inside the smoke for my moment. I considered if I should use more clones, but my chakra levels were too low to divide it even more among clones. This one would have to be close and personal.

    The jounin took their sweet time approaching. The wait would have been nerve wracking if I couldn't sense their position through the smoke. I won't lie here. I wasn't about to try anything fancy. I had no idea what the enemy was capable of, and my Kuro Raikou no Jutsu had already scored me two easy kills. Why change a winning strategy?

    I threw more smoke bombs, this time away from the jounin. The bombs hit the wall, exploded. At the same time, I threw the stolen shuriken, stolen kunai and my hardwood beacon. In my empty hand, I created a rasengan.

    The shinobi swirled toward the explosion, then again to deflect the thrown weapons. Again, like magic, super op, no one expected me to appear from the flying wood kunai. At the same time I did, I brought down my rasengan. I hit the jounin, another man with no visible village markings, on the chest. Pushed all the chakra I could manage on my jutsu. The enemy reacted fast. Even under my attack, his hands flashed, he spewed fire all over me.

    The op combo worked better than I hoped. The ball of chakra expanded on my hand, flew forwards, carrying the jounin away. The man hit the opposite wall, the rasengan expanded, things got shredded. It was gruesome. I was suspicious before, but I was certain now. These guys weren't the same ones that ambushed us. It was not just the different way of dressing. They were just too weak when compared to the ones that ambushed us.

    The impact of the jutsu dispersed most of the fire and smoke. The remaining enemy had just entered the room to see the end of that fight. I stood at the center of the room, my back to them, still smoking; at the other side of the room, a dying jounin.

    Perhaps, the enemy decided the better part of valor was to wait for reinforcements. They turned around and bolted. Blew away the passage behind them, trapping me inside.

    I would have gone after the fleeing ninja, and tried to contest that retreat. I didn't. I couldn't.

    Like I said, easy, for a definition of easy. I stood at the center of the room, burned, hurt and with another kunai stuck to my chest. Fucker jounin didn't even have the decency to die and leave me alone. Had to burn and stab me. Blood poured out of the injury. I didn't pull the kunai, no idea if the man had hit anything important. It was already bleeding like a fountain. No need to make it worse.

    That complicated things, a lot.

    The collapsed passage was the only path I knew that led outside. We were, by my accounts, a few dozen meters underground. I could try to doton the shit out of here, but the faint chakra lines lining the complex gave me the feeling it did a lot more than just hide the place.

    I walked closer to the jounin. The man was still alive, barely. Had to remedy that. A quick stab finished him off. The amount of injuries I suffered didn't matter when I wasn't moving my body the normal way. Puppeteering my own limbs made it that I just needed to endure the pain, to fight. But the lightheaded feeling told me the loss of blood was more dire than I thought.

    The jounin had more supplies than the others. I stole more kunais, an exploding tag, bandages and other bits and ends. A keyring with several keys inside his pouch gave me an idea I could try. Release the prisoners, let them help themselves escape. Look at that, I was going to play the hero.

    I shambled my way back to the cells, pressing the bandages around the kunai in my chest. Found myself trying to fit a key in the lock. Even with the puppeteering, my hand shook. It wasn't easy. The yelling was deafening. A hand sneaked from inside the prison, grabbed my wrist, steadying my hand. It looked young. Right, I remember, these were children. I forced my head up, and was greeted by despairing eyes and a mane of red hair.

    Not only red hair, but red eyes as well. Her hair was on the short and spiky on the right side, while somewhat longer and straight on the left. She wore some sort of worn out shinobi uniform, but I couldn't see any village markings. One side of her face was marred by scars that resembled claw marks. It was a surprise how she didn't lose an eye, given the scar placement. I think she was saying something, but I couldn't understand. I tried to fit the key a few more times, shoved it into the girl's hand when I realized I was about to check out.

    Damn. All this effort to drown at the finishing line.

    Darkness claimed me for the second time. I hoped I would wake up again. I wasn't confident.






    Against all odds, I woke up again. I couldn't make sense of things, but there was this voice, insistent, annoying, demanding. It was a girl's voice. I just wanted to sleep.

    "You have to bite." The voice pleaded again. "You'll die if you don't."

    Something was pressed against my mouth. I groaned, trying to push it away. The pain in my hands stopped me. I might have whimpered, which only caused more pain.

    Cruel hands pried my mouth open, and something soft prevented me from closing my mouth.

    "Bite," the voice asked again, "bite!" She yelled when I tried to push away.

    That was really annoying. Fuck it, have it your way. I chomped down. Hard. The girl shrieked. I tasted something warm and coppery. But more than that, another type of warmth spread through my body. It was like a refreshing breeze, and sweet candies. Or maybe vanilla ice cream. I wasn't sure. I wanted more. I bit again, tried to drink, but the thing on my mouth wasn't the nice feeling. It just left me feeling grossed out.

    The voice's owner cried out again. My hands moved, holding up the arm to my mouth. Huh, I could move now. The pain, I also noticed, was all but gone. The puncture on my chest and side smarted but was the weeks old kind of smarted. The injury on my thigh stopped demanding my attention.

    "Stop." The annoying voice sobbed.

    I didn't listen. I kept biting.

    "Stop!" The girl shrieked. Something slapped my face when I didn't.

    That, I think, broke the spell. I opened my eyes to find myself holding the red-haired girl's arms. There were several bite marks on her arm. Bleeding bite marks. My mouth tasted strange. There were a few other kids around. They were looking at me like I was a monster.

    I turned my attention back to the girl whose arm I was still holding. She glared at me, eyes full of tears, cheeks rosy. She pulled her arm free. I let it go.

    I looked around. The cells were open; no other enemy was in sight. I was lying flat on the ground, head on the red hair's lap. Someone, thankfully, had laid a shirt over me. I wasn't flashing everybody here. Meanwhile, a mental checklist appeared in my mind.

    • Red hair? Check.
    • Red eyes? Check.
    • Glasses? No, but due to circumstances, a maybe.
    • Scars? No. What was this one about?
    • Heals people by letting them bite her arm? Double check.
    Three in favor, one against, one undecided. I guess I could make this assumption.

    "Karin?"

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    • Karin's eyes were a mix of startled, scared and curious. She pushed me back. My head flopped out of her lap onto the ground.

    "What? How do you know my name?"

    Oh, right. I wasn't supposed to let people know I knew this stuff. Goes to say I wasn't fully recovered yet if I messed up this bad with my most guarded secret. Hadn't something similar happened with Ino-chan as well? No, not the time. It was thinking-very-fast-no-jutsu time. I had no idea how to answer Karin. Change-subject-no-jutsu, made a surprise appearance to save the day.

    "How long was I out?" I rasped out, felt the familiar stinging on my throat. The healing healed the injury, but it hadn't fixed the root cause. Talking was still a chore, and it still hurt. I didn't wait for a response. I got up, and under a half dozen pairs of wide eyes, I got dressed in the rags that had been covering me until now.

    I mean. What else could I do? I wasn't going to show how shy I was about this whole stuff. No, my face wasn't burning. My ears weren't red. That just didn't happen. I was a badass strong kunoichi who just kicked a lot of ass, in her birthday suit, then just decided to traipse back into the cells. Nothing out of ordinary here. Move along, citizens.

    Dressed and not flashing anyone, I looked at my injuries. The stab in my chest looked like a months old injury, same with the side and leg. Most of the small injuries were gone, the burning had faded, leaving a barely visible scar on the worst parts. No wonder Orochimaru kept her around. I wanted to keep her around myself.

    Out of the corner of my eyes, I tried to check the others. Aside from Karin, there was one more girl and four boys. The girl looked like a very thin fifteen year old, dressed in dirty rags. There were some sort of markings on her face that looked like a clan mark, but I couldn't place them. The boys were a mix of young and older. There was this one kid that looked like ten, while the oldest around seventeen. All of them looked rough, dressed in hand-me-down type of clothing. They also looked roughed up, but I was guessing that was courtesy of our captors.

    Between the boys, two of them also had some sort of markings that made me think of shinobi families or clans.

    That sparked a memory. Wasn't this a thing in Kiri? Wasn't that Haku's whole situation as well before they met up with Zabuza? The persecution and discrimination against bloodlimit shinobi families due to the constant wars and violence and how those shinobi were used as tools of war.

    Was this whole bunch all kekkei genkai shinobi?

    Like a reflex, I tried to pop out my comms board, only to glance at my bare arm in a bit of confusion. Ah, yes, taken, prison, bad. My brain really wasn't working properly. I had to talk with these people if we were to have a chance to leave this place alive. A small sigh escaped me. I had only one choice left if I didn't want to keep hurting myself. My hands flashed with seals. Out popped another me.

    The kids all around took another step back. I saw a few looking for ways to escape. Even Karin looked startled now. Why? I mean, yes, here I was using clone jutsu, but that wasn't bad, right? I nodded to my clone. Communication-chan had only one job: talk with this gaggle of people and make them ready while I prepared for our escape.

    Communication-chan squealed, threw herself at Karin in a bear hug. "Oh my gosh, Karin-chan! I love you! Even if you have the worst taste ever in boys. Emosuke, really? Why?"

    I face-palmed. Right, out of control clones, lower inhibition head injury. What else was I expecting?




    It took a while to calm down Communication-chan and placate Karin. While my clone tied the bandage around the bite marks on the girl's arm, it ended up falling to me to explain things.

    "Chunin exam." That was the excuse I blurted out. I knew from Karin's story she had participated in the same exam as me, even if I hadn't seen her there. I hoped that was still true.

    "Konohagakure's Chunin exam?" She asked, her hand going toward her face in an unconscious gesture, fingers tracing the scar.

    I nodded. The scar wasn't as bad as I first thought, or maybe Karin's healing abilities worked on that as well? The mark looked fading, like it had been years since the injury, and not months. My guess was that those marks were a gift from Forest of Death Bear-kun, since Sasuke wasn't there to save her from it in this timeline.

    Karin didn't seem willing to let me off the hook.

    "Emosuke, who's that?"

    Communication-chan, the traitor, giggled. I shot her a glare to make sure she kept her trap shut.

    "Is this really the time? We have to escape."

    I played the deflection card again. I might have over played the throat injury card as well, letting a trickle of blood escape my mouth along with a bit of coughing. Take the hint Karin, I'm hurt here, can't keep talking.

    That might have done it. Karin looked startled, offered me her arm again. Communication-chan decided to do her job. Finally, thank god.

    She pushed the offered arm down.

    "It's not something you can help with," she husked out.

    I had to shake my head at that. Why was Comm-chan using our Seduce Best Girl voice with Karin?

    Karin looked from me to the clone, and I took the chance to leave them while explanations were given.

    I left the cells and scoured the underground rooms for anything we could use. There wasn't much. There wasn't much time I could spare. None of my stuff was here. Back at where I faced the other shinobi, I salvaged all the weapons I could, picked up the used kunais, shuriken wires and all that. Ran back to the cells and shared it with the other prisoners. It wasn't much. Four kunais, a dozen shuriken, two spools of wire, two exploding tags. That would have to be enough.

    While I was scavenging, Comm-chan managed to get others on board with the escape plan. Among the other prisoners, only Karin had shinobi training. The others were mum about it, but by the looks of it, yes, they were descendants of bloodlimit clans. I think only the tall girl actually knew how to use her bloodlimit. A misty hazy cloud that could be used to block vision, and other types of perception. Could be useful, but that also somehow interfered with my chakra sensing, which was less than ideal.

    The escape plan was simple. I was going to blow up the blocked passage, and we would storm out of the complex before their reinforcements arrived. Time was of the essence here. There were lots of questions being thrown around, none I had the patience to answer.

    I mean, how would I know where that kid's pet was?

    While the others bickered, I went on with my preparations. First, I created another beacon. I pushed my chakra, and a hardwood kunai formed on my hand. One of the downsides of using a modified mokuton clone for this was showing up in a ugly way. When I passed out for a few minutes, the kunai dispersed, just like a clone would do.

    If Karin hadn't healed me and let me suckle on her arm for a chakra top up, I'd be screwed right now. No, who am I kidding? If it wasn't for her, I'd be dead right now. I owed her big time.

    Now, while Comm-chan wrangled the kids into some semblance of order, I was about to start stuff. We spent enough time already. For this part, I was almost chakra depleted again, even after being topped up by Karin. Why? You ask? Well, the reason was simple. I had to reinforce the walls and pillars with mokuton for what was about to come. I couldn't sense anyone in the complex above. The remaining chunin was nowhere near my perception range when I woke up.

    With one last glance, I got a nod from my clone. It was time. I approached the blocked passage, found a place where I could inscribe my seal. Only the best explosions for our escape. I pushed my chakra, black lines drawing the shape of freedom. Then I ran back to cover.

    Yes, I know, blowing stuff underground was a bad idea, which is why I made sure to reinforce the whole thing with hardwood. Now I just had to deal with I don't know how many more enemies outside, without using chakra.

    If everything went to shit, I could always sacrifice Comm-chan like a chakra refuel package. I hope she didn't catch me thinking that. That would be so much trouble.

    Blow stuff up, kill anyone trying to stop us. Escape.

    Should be easy, right?



    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Friday.
    Proofreader: CakeEight.

    Hinata at a grocery store buying baking ingredients?

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    • The blast reverberated underground, deafening. The whole room shook, the ceiling cracked, pieces of stone fell around us, dust blocked our vision, but we weren't smashed by a fuckton of rock, so I reckon my reinforcements worked.

    I was starting to have this feeling about explosions, the way they made my bones tremble, how the impact flowed through my body. This one was seven out of ten, ten being an evil laboratory pile of explosions after effect. The payload wasn't the highest, but I think being underground was enough to amplify the reverberations. Nice!

    Me and Comm-chan were probably the only ones enjoying it, however. The other kids were scattered around, hands blocking ears, groaning, disoriented. Ugh, some people didn't know the good things in life. I pulled Karin-chan up, then the other kids. Comm-chan helped, and soon after, we ran through the exploded passage.

    On the other side of the once barred passage, were stairs leading up. It opened up into a bigger complex, with lots of doors and other areas to explore. We didn't. From the layout I had memorized, I guided the sorry lot toward the door. There was no enemy yet in my sensory range, which I was conflicted about.

    I had given Karin-chan a kunai, an explosive tag and, call me selfish, my Kuro Raiku beacon . Impressed upon her the importance of not losing the damn thing. I think I managed to convey how important it was. She held the hardwood kunai in a white death grip.

    The lot behind us was a disorganized mess. The tall girl held a kunai, the oldest boy held another. The younger had shuriken, while the one in between had the wires. I had the remaining kunai, while Comm-chan had the last of the explosive tags, shuriken and smoke bombs.

    The above complex still had locked doors we had to bypass, but they were just reinforced wood, nothing that normal explosion wouldn't solve. For a moment, I considered if I should try to find my supplies, the things I took from the laboratory. Having my own seals and weapons would help, having my own reinforced shinobi uniform would help more. I discarded the idea. But I vowed to return. I needed the data from the hideout.

    We climbed yet another set of stairs, and blew yet more doors, until we burst out into an open area under a canopy of trees. The sky was foreboding and angry, full of dark clouds. Evening or dawn, I wasn't sure which. Looking back the place we just left was just an unremarkable patch of grass, with no indication whatsoever that something hidden lay beneath. Not even my chakra sense could pick up the fluctuations on the walls I could feel when inside.

    Outside, there were no enemies. No ambush, no mob of shinobi waiting for us. The group stopped. For a moment, no one moved. Then the other prisoners fled as fast as they could, each running into a different direction, and leaving me behind, alone.

    Karin-chan's hand found my arm. She grabbed it in an ever worse death grip. "No! Don't run!" She yelled, which only spurred the brats even faster. I looked at her, she was looking wildly. "It's a trap," she whispered. "They're waiting around us."

    I looked around, I paid attention to my chakra senses again, and felt nothing. I knew Karin-chan was a sensor type, but was her sensing ability that better than mine?

    Most of the escapees weren't stopping. If anything, they ran even faster after Karin's warning. In a way, I could understand them. This looked like a prime opportunity to flee. Would I stay with the crazy girl that likes exploding things.

    I gritted my teeth. Fucking unfair.

    Comm-chan picked up on my mood, understood my decision. Asked the question that needed to be asked. "Where to? Which way has the least and most enemies?"

    Karin-chan looked around, pointed. I grabbed her trembling hand, gently pried the beacon from her fingers. Tossed the hardwood kunai to Comm-chan. For once, my clone was on the same wavelength as me. She hopped closer, gave Karin-chan a hug, then saluted me and flickered away, toward the direction Karin pointed had most enemies. Maybe that would help.

    "W-what is she doing?"

    "Can you hide your chakra signature?" I rasped out. I did what I just asked from Karin. I wasn't the best when concealing my own chakra, but it was impossible to always feel the chakra without learning a thing or two. I just never thought I'd need this ability. I should have trained it.

    Karin-chan gave me a shaky nod, then faded from my perception. It was strange. Seeing her there, but not sensing her. I shook my head, waited. Counted to twenty. When I heard the first explosion, and yells, I grabbed Karin on a princess carry, pumped my body full of chakra and ran as fast as I could. All around, towards where Comm-chan went, I sensed enemies moving.

    I ran, but Karin-chan was on the driver's wheel. Behind us, even from a distance, the sound of battle and explosions. They were from my best supply. Was Comm-chan creating them on demand? I approved. I had fantasized about doing just that. Thunder Flying God plus on demand explosions. That was a match made in heaven, wasn't it?

    "From there," Karin whispered, pointing her finger. I swerved away, moved in another direction. "There," she said, and pointed again.

    That repeated for a few more times. It was clear however, the enemy wasn't after us specifically. Most were moving toward the battle. Comm-chan hadn't dispersed yet. I sent her a prayer and a request. May she kill them all. Was I evil for thinking that?






    Comm-chan knew her brain wasn't working right, more so than being a clone already screwed things up. Being a clone was a strange experience. Things just didn't seem to be that important or serious, no matter how much the original Hinata thought they might be.

    Original-chan could be a little more open with her thoughts and her feelings as well. Suppressing things made it hard being a clone. All those repressed impulses were just like candy boxes waiting to be unwrapped. It made her want to do strange things.

    Comm-chan gave Karin a hug and her biggest smile, and debated if she should snog the startled redhead. Decided against. Kissing Karin just to mess with the original was a tad too much, and she would feel bad. Comm-chan wanted to snog Ino, not Karin. Karin was cool, but she wasn't Best Girl Ino.

    She saluted Hinata, then flickered away. Thoughts about the future pushed away from her head. Comm-chan was just a clone, there was no need to worry about the many hard decisions to come. No, she had a different purpose and goal.

    It was finally time.

    Original-chan finally decided it was time to stop holding back. She could see it in Original's eyes. A new name was needed. A fitting name.

    Assassination-chan, the newly appointed, regretted she wasn't dressed up for her part. A ratty shirt and nothing underneath. She wasn't going to lie. It was embarrassing as hell, but that was life. Couldn't choose the cards dealt.

    Her first victim entered her sensing range. It was a medium blaze, a bit over chunin. She knew ranking people over their chakra reserves wasn't the best metric, given she knew a sunshine brat that had more chakra than anyone else, but was also almost like an inoffensive puppy. Killing him would be so easy. Teleport, hug him, stab his eye while he is distracted.

    …

    Why was she thinking on how to kill the brat? Was she that far gone? She cast away those thoughts, the first victim was here. Hidden behind a tree trunk. She picked up a pebble, tossed it to one side of the soon to be dead enemy, the beacon to the other. As soon the pebble hit and the enemy bolted, she teleported, knee already in position to strike the fleeing enemy. He tumbled, she grabbed his head, filled her arms with chakra, snapped his neck.

    Assassination-chan let go of the body, watched it flop to the ground. She nodded at a well done job. Being physically strong had its perks.

    Then she tsked, bent down and grabbed the corpse. She slapped her hand at the corpse's back. Inscribed the explosion seal, special vintage. Propped the corpse against the tree, with the seal hidden. Jumped on another nearby tree, and threw nearby one of the normal explosive tags.

    Assassination-chan was dedicated to the job, but chasing after prey was boring. Better set up the bait and make prey come to her.

    The clone stopped. Thought back on that statement. Nodded. That was a suitable edgy and dark line for an assassin. She snickered, dimmed her chakra presence. It was time to get to work.




    Thank you for reading. <3 Next chapter Monday.


    Proofreader: CakeEight





    I created two and updated a few images from a while ago.
    Random Hinata Images
    Casual Hinata Images

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    • It was evening and getting darker fast. For a while now, Karin had been quiet. There were no enemies around us, and we were so far away from the prison that the sound of battle didn't reach us anymore. Somehow, Comm-chan was still alive and exploding things. I could feel the beacon moving with her, and if I paid enough attention, caught glimpses of the action on the other side.

    I know I prayed for her to kill as many as she could, but did she need to transform every enemy she could put her mittens on in a bomb carrier? Wasn't that a tad too much? Even if the body count wasn't as big as I thought it would have been, exploding enemies was somehow, way worse than just killing them. Was Comm-chan trying some sort of mind game or something against the enemies?

    Cold darkness fell. With the clouds blocking the sky, there was no light to help me see. No star light, no moon light. Just pure darkness. I pushed out with my threads to sense the surroundings. I had to move slower to avoid tripping, but the important thing was to keep moving.

    As soon the threads spread out, Karin-chan gasped. "How're you doing that?" She looked this way and that. Finger touching some of the threads. "It's beautiful."

    That was nice to hear. I think my control, and thus threads, was my most developed skill. I spent literal years training this stuff. Felt good to be appreciated. Karin didn't seem to be waiting for a response. She kept trying to grab the threads, and at some point, it became almost like a game. It was a good bit of distraction that kept me moving late into the night.

    I kept fleeing but even so, I had my limits. I was tired, cold, hurting, hungry and thirsty. I wanted water so bad. So much for a place called Land of Waves. There was no river or water nearby. No lakes or ponds. I wasn't even sure if we still were in the Land of Waves.

    But now it wasn't just being tired anymore. Moving around wasn't enough to keep warm, not when I had barely anything to wear. The cold wind cut deeper than any kunai.

    From running, to jogging to walking to shambling.

    At some point, my clone, the drama queen Assassination-chan met her end. I was proud of her, and maybe a bit scared. Was I that dangerous when I didn't have to worry about anything else? She led the enemy in circles, abusing the teleport to strike from places they wouldn't expect, planting explosions whenever she could.

    She… made a mess. But now with her memories, I understood why. She wanted to attract attention. Maybe that would also help the others escape. Maybe that would prompt Kiri to investigate. We could only hope.

    The beacon was still there with one of the enemies. He didn't seem to know what my kunai was for. He had bagged it, and now was lugging it around. I kept part of my attention on the guy, hoping to find any clue to what was happening. The nameless shinobi had put it among other items that looked like contraband or loot. He left soon after, but there were people nearby.

    And people talked, and stuff was discussed. Two of the masked shinobi were talking around the contraband. Most of it was in some sort of code or shorthand I couldn't understand, but there was one word that stood out above all else.

    ROOT.

    I could even hear the capitalization in the words. I should have guessed. I'm kinda mad I didn't.

    In the show, Sai was emotionless and disconnected from his emotions due to ROOT training. Now, here he was, seven years free from Danzo, supposedly not part of ROOT and yet still emotionless and disconnected. Why hadn't I seen it? Was I that blind?

    I stumbled, almost dropped Karin, who had fallen asleep while I carried her. She yelped, windmilled, grabbed my hair, pulled it.

    I couldn't keep going this way. Now that the adrenaline had faded, and the cold snuck in, the past how many days of abuse was catching up. Karin might have healed my injuries, but that didn't erase the mental strain. I changed focus from moving away to find somewhere to hide.

    In total darkness, I carried Karin through a small cave opening.

    Jagged rocks and twisting paths made it look like a nice place to hide. However, it turned out to be a dead end. The passage wasn't long, and it tapered off in a small crack in the stone that wasn't big enough for Karin or me to fit through. I considered staying here, but I didn't like being trapped with only one way of escape.

    I turned around and walked away from the cave. My hazy meandering led me to the base of a massive tree. From what I could gather with my threads, it might take at least five of me, hand in hand, to wrap around the tree's base.

    My chakra threads retracted, and I tried to think through this. Going inside a cave was a big no-no. Hiding on the canopy of a tree? That might be better. It was open space and I could flee in any direction if needed. On the other hand, it would be way colder than the cave. With how cold the air cut me, I wasn't sure that staying out was feasible. Somehow, I couldn't decide what to do. It was like my brain OS had blue-screened.

    "Hey, are you asleep?"

    I blinked; Karin's hand was on my cheeks. I hadn't seen her moving.

    "The chakra lines disappeared, and you've been quiet for a while now."

    I pushed my threads again. Noticed that my beacon had disappeared. Had I fallen asleep standing?

    "Hold on tight." I whispered, and before Karin could say anything, I coated my feet with chakra and climbed the tree. A few branches up, I found a nice place to sit down, then plopped myself with my back to the trunk. As for the cold, Karin would have to take responsibility and help me deal with that. I adjusted the redhead so she was on my lap, back pressing against my front. Karin let out a startled yelp. Don't blame me, I had the most innocent of thoughts. It was just cold and I was butt naked, with only a flimsy shirt. Karin could deal with a bit of awkwardness.

    There was a moment of silence, until she started speaking again. "What's your name?"

    I wasn't keen on speaking, it was time to try something else. I formed words with the threads. "Hinata." Karin could sense them. Would she be able to read it?

    "Hinata?" Karin read back to me. I slumped forward, head pressing against her back. I nodded. "Same as the dead Hyuga girl?"

    I stiffened. What was she talking about? I scrambled to write more words. "What dead girl?"

    Karin wiggled on my lap, adjusted her seating, and pressed us closer. "You don't know? I thought everyone in Konoha did. Mom told me about it. Even in Kusagakure, it was a huge scandal." She stopped, picked up my arms, and put them around her waist. Her arms were all lined with gooseflesh. "Someone stole the Hyuga Princess right under their noses. The poor girl was also named Hinata."

    I felt numb. I wrote. "Yeah, like that Hinata."

    "Thank you for saving me Hinata-chan."

    Again, I nodded. I don't know why hearing that from someone else startled me this much. I wasn't dead, dammit.

    The silence stretched again. The night was quiet, and the cold wind rustling the leaves was almost therapeutic. I closed my eyes.




    "Hinata-chan." Karin's whispered call startled me awake again. How much time had passed? "They're coming."

    I didn't need to ask who or how. They're ninjas, and I didn't do anything to hide my tracks. I forced myself up and adjusted Karin so she was on my back instead of a princess carry. Her hand grabbed my shoulder and squeezed before I could move.

    "They're around us. Five of them."

    I still couldn't sense them. I needed more information. "How strong?" I wrote.

    Karin looked at the invisible words. I could only tell because I had threads on her to keep up with her movements. "Stronger than you. Their chakra feels… different. Too controlled, dark, bitter."

    What could I do here? I wasn't in any condition to fight. Assassination-chan had burned through most of her chakra. When she dispersed, I barely got anything back. I hadn't recovered enough to put up a serious fight.

    Could I use the beacon? I cast my mind again, then shook my head. It vanished when I fell asleep, and even if it hadn't, what about Karin? If I used the beacon, I'd leave her behind.

    "What do we do?" The redhead asked. Her voice was a whispered whimper.

    A crazy idea hit me. It was so crazy that it might just work. "I… have a crazy idea, I can't promise it will work."

    "Is it dangerous?"

    I tilted my head, then wrote more when I realized she couldn't see it. "There's a chance it won't work at all. There's a chance we'll be separated, or it will work only for me. I don't know."

    Karin patted my shoulder, released my neck and dropped down. She grabbed the kunai I gave her at the start of this mess. "Do it," she whispered.

    That was kinda cool. And foolhardy. She didn't even know what I wanted to do. Still cool.

    I moved closer, hugged Karin. She let out a strangled yelp. "H-hinata-san?"

    Huh, why the formality? I shook my head. Wrote with my threads. "Hug me as tight as you can. Don't let go." She did just that, arms sneaking around me and pulling me closer. I popped out more of my threads, made them tangible, but instead of spreading them around, I wove them around us, like an invisible cocoon, then used it to press us even closer.

    The surprised gasp from Karin sounded wrong, even to my ears. Not the time, brain. It was life or death here. By now, I could already feel the jounins approaching. They finally entered my sensing range. Karin was right, there was something wrong with them. Their chakra was too still, too controlled, and an absolute fuckton.

    I brought my hand to my mouth, bit my thumb until it drew blood, then I willed the Kuchiyose no Jutsu I learned from Naruto from what felt so long ago. My already low chakra got sucked up by the activation, and when it ran out, my threads started to disperse. I couldn't let them. I pushed and pulled from reserves I didn't know I had; it drained something else I couldn't put into words, but my threads remained.

    The world spun, and it was like I was being pulled in all directions at once. It wasn't painful, just disorienting.

    It ended as soon as it started, and we fell into a warm, dark area. Soft, warm earth beneath us, a strong musk scent, and pale crystal-looking lights in the sky. No, not the sky, the ceiling. The faint light illuminated the cavernous walls and the small — was it a hill? — nearby. Karin was still with me, breathing loudly.

    I didn't have time to be glad my gamble paid off. My threads cocoon unraveled. I didn't get up. My whole body burned. Worse yet, a familiar onset of agony spiked. It took me back to that time in the Forest of Death, with Orochimaru burning heretical knowledge into my mind. My body ached, my bones burned.

    Karin looked up, gawked at the ceiling and wall. She grabbed me by the shirt, shook me like her life depended on it. "What the fuck did you—" She didn't finish. The redhead froze, woodenly looking around. It was like she'd seen a ghost.

    Try as I might, I couldn't answer. I knew this feeling all too well. The seals on my bones were trying to kill me, and I had no chakra left to suppress it. An agonized scream escaped my mouth. Karin yelped, let go, and I fell back on the ground, hands trying to dig into my skin, reach my burning bones.

    The nearby hillock shifted, shattering the quiet of the place. From all around, I heard hustling, grunting, chattering, and growling. From behind the moving mound, a car-sized black-furred triangular face with beady eyes approached and stared at us.




    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Wed.

    Proofreader: CakeEight.



    A quick update on the backlog status: I have up to chapter 7.7 written.

    Arc 6, somehow changed, and now goes to 6.24. Those extra chapters include two from Naruto's POV and one from another.

    It's time for Best Girl Ino images!
    (Since the first one refuses to load, here is the link: https://i.ibb.co/fzdJh9Qb/00000-664854670.png)
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    • Karin knew that participating in the chunin exam in Konohagakure was a terrible idea. The team she was forced onto was wholly unprepared, and the higher-ups in Kusagakure somehow believed that because she could heal her teammates, they were qualified to compete against the geniuses of the bigger villages.

    Case in point: she was the only survivor of her team after they entered that damnable forest. Karin should have, by all accounts, died as well. She remembered the bear and trying to fight it. She remembered the claws that should have taken her eye. She remembered the pain and the teeth. Then she woke up in the hospital with a scar to remind her that it hadn't been a dream.

    Karin considered if she should just flee. The life of a missing-nin looked more appealing than the forced servitude her own life was. She looked down on her arms and the many bite marks from abusing her healing ability. The jounins in her village knew she risked her own life every time they overused her lifeforce. Karin's mother was proof of that. Kusagakure's ninjas didn't care. Every time a battle broke out, she was dragged to the battlefield.

    The same day she woke up in that hospital, Zosui took her away from Konohagakure and back to her village.

    Her life of enslavement continued, day after day, week after week, until, once again, she was taken to the battlefield to heal injured ninjas. Or that was what should have happened.

    Days away from Kusagakure and preparing for the confrontation, Zosui commandeered the village's elders' house for the night for him and his squad. Karin got the cellar treatment. Locked in the damp underground with no hope of escaping. That same night, Karin sensed a large group of shinobi approaching. She found a dank and dark place and hid. For two days, she waited alone in the dark.

    The skirmish lasted all night and all day. In the chaos, no one came to find her in the dark cellar. Karin escaped into daylight again once she couldn't feel anyone outside anymore.

    The village had been razed, and her minder was nowhere in sight. Hopeful for the first time in her short life, Karin ran, but not for long. Not two days passed, and she was accosted by two shinobi who recognized her cursed lineage.

    Karin tried to put up a fight, but they were stronger. She blacked out after a well-placed kick to the head. The next time she woke up, she was somewhere underground, surrounded by shinobi. Strong shinobi with bitter and rotten chakra.

    The whole situation was more than disheartening. Karin was ready to give up. Why keep struggling when, at every turn, things become even worse? Fate, however, didn't seem keen on letting her go.

    Her captors brought a new prisoner whose chakra was nothing like Karin had ever felt. It was clear, fresh, bubbly, with a hint of darkness. She couldn't see who it was, but she heard the results. The constant physical abuse and beatings. She expected that one to die within hours. It didn't happen.

    Trapped in her cell, Karin couldn't sense the outside. There was some sort of barrier blocking her perception. But she still could feel the chakra of everyone present. There was something happening. Most of the shinobi with that strange and bitter chakra left, leaving only a token force behind. The chakra of the ones who stayed behind was all spiky and swirly.

    Karin knew in her gut something was about to happen. Then it did.

    Days later, the prisoner that was kept under lock, key and beatings, broke free.

    It was a young girl. Naked. Wreaking havoc and destruction. The five minutes that followed were the hardest in Karin's life. She tried to understand what was happening by the movement of their chakra, but she couldn't make sense of it. The escaped prisoner moved erratically. Worse, her chakra was like tight clothing in the shape of a person. What kind of jutsu was that?

    Somehow, the girl managed to kill three of their captors while the last one fled. Karin had expected the girl to flee, but then she returned to the cells. Naked, eyes hazy, holding bandages to an injured chest. Even with that, the amount of blood she left in her wake was scary. Karin had no idea how the girl was still standing.

    The escaped ninja had a bundle of key rings, and maybe it was fate, so she stopped by Karin's cell. The girl tried to open the metal cage, but her hands shook too much while she looked barely coherent.

    Karin's own trembling hands snaked from inside the cage and grabbed the girl's arm to steady her hand. She didn't want to try taking the keys. She had no idea how the other would react. "Let me help you." She whispered. Her voice was a weaving mess.

    The shinobi heard her. She looked up, pale-faced, and Karin was left staring at unfocused black eyes, even if one looked more like a snake's eyes than a human's.

    "I can help you." Karin pleaded again.

    Unfocused eyes looked down; the girl tried to fit the key a few more times before shoving the whole thing into Karin's hand. Not a second later, the injured shinobi toppled over.

    Karin stared for a few uncomprehending seconds before the yells of the other prisoners woke her from her surprise. She tried the keys and managed to open her cell on the second try. She pushed the door open, and as much as she wanted to help the dying girl, she needed to do something else first. She ran toward the nearest cell—it was the older teen's.

    "Here!" Karin yelled, thrusting the bundle of keys at the boy.

    The decision to save the dying shinobi wasn't wholly altruistic. If injured and unarmed this ninja managed to kill most of the jailers, saving her life would also improve Karin's chances of surviving this whole fiasco. Now, she just needed to wake up a half-dead shinobi and make that person bite her arm.






    From the moment she decided to heal Hinata, Karin never would have imagined she'd now be in some godforsaken cave, staring down a mountain-sized honey badger, while Hinata screamed herself hoarse.

    Karin was petrified. All at once she wanted to help Hinata, run and hide, scream hysterically, but she ended up doing nothing. That massive, triangular face and beady eyes kept her rooted in place. Worse, that wasn't the only one. All around, the cave had come to life. She heard grunting, rustling, growling, and chattering.

    Another hoarse groan from Hinata broke the standoff. Karin flinched. Looked at the contorting girl at her feet. She didn't dare to move more than that, however.

    A rumbling, deep voice cut through her panic. "Tend to your companion, unworthy one." The voice from the massive badger resounded in her whole body. "We can decide what to do with you once the heretical summoner isn't about to die."

    Karin stared at the massive animal before her, still frozen stiff.

    "Or you can let her die." The voice rumbled, amused. All around, the tittering and chattering grew. "It's been a while since our little cubs ate an unworthy one."

    Karin whirled and dropped to her knees. She pulled her sleeves up on the arm that wasn't bandaged. Not enough time had passed since she last let Hinata drain her life force, which would probably mean another set of scars. These, at least, were her choice. The big one behind needn't threaten her into helping. She wasn't about to let Hinata die.




    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Friday.

    Proofreader: CakeEight

    There isn't much for genin Karin, so those don't really "match the normal naruto's vibe" but I guess they look kinda nice?



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    I'm using this as the "emotion mapping" for Karin.


    • Still/Steady: Calm, serene, or focused.
    • Gentle/Waves: Comfort, affection, or empathy.
    • Erratic/Spiky: Anger, frustration, or irritation.
    • Turbulent/Swirling: Anxiety, nervousness, or fear.
    • Pulse-like/Throbbing: Excitement, eagerness, or determination.
    • Shivering/Flickering: Sadness, vulnerability, or insecurity.
    • Flowing/Stream-like: Contentment, satisfaction, or harmony.
    • Bursting/Explosive: Intense joy, passion, or exhilaration.
    • Dense/Compressed: Resentment, bitterness, or suppressed emotions.
    • Cold/Slow-moving: Apathy, indifference, or exhaustion.
    • Warm/Expansive: Love, compassion, or hope.
    • Chaotic/Unstable: Confusion, desperation, or mental turmoil.
    • Sharp/Needle-like: Hatred, malice, or a strong sense of betrayal.
     
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    • Keeping the seals in my bones suppressed had never taken much conscious effort. The key Orochimaru provided drew from my chakra to suppress the ongoing kill effect. I should have asked this question before, but what would happen if I ran out of chakra? Well, as it turned out, the damn thing was trying to eat me alive in an excruciating way.

    A detached part of my mind watched the seal at work in fascination. I wasn't a fan of the Snake Sannin, nor did I approve of his methods, even more so when those methods were directed at me, but I couldn't deny that his work was exceptional. Beautiful even.

    It was a level of mastery I could only dream of. My seals looked like a patchwork of cobbled-together dirt. No, that was just my depressed side getting out of control. There wasn't a good way to compare my seals with the Snake's. They were different paradigms. Oro's seal was like a well-oiled machine designed to use every iota of fuel available, while mine somehow had a better conversion rate. My seals had trouble converting the chakra into energy, but the small amounts it did, somehow had better output.

    All of that was to say that now – out of chakra – the seal was converting my life force into fuel to kill me. It was devious, brilliant, awesome, even. And it hurt like hell.

    I was aware of movement around me. I heard voices—one deep and rumbling, Karin's gentle and insistent, others squeaky and chattering.

    "Bite, Hinata-chan," Karin whispered, "but gently this time."

    Even with the whole dying situation, that one threw me off kilter. Not hours ago, I had chomped down on her arms to the point we had to bandage the entire forearm to hide away the gruesome teeth marks. And now, here she was, offering me the other one. That inflicted me with a severe case of feelings. Not the good kind.

    I was tired of being the damsel.

    Teeth found flesh, and sweetness poured again in my mouth. I didn't chomp this time. I wasn't that far gone. The groan-slash-moan from Karin told me she wasn't doing well either.

    The chakra top-off gave me enough to avoid the draining of my life force. It didn't, however, stop the seal. For that, I had to work on the key again. But I had already done it once. I could do it again.

    I hope I was right. It would be a very gruesome death otherwise.

    The work to re-suppress the seal was challenging and time-consuming. I was tired, hungry, thirsty, and still in pain, but I couldn't stop until the seal was back under control. I heard yet more voices around. Then, warm hands carried me somewhere else, plopping me on what felt like warm, scratchy blankets. The underground cave wasn't as cold as the forest in the Land of Waves, but the warmth helped.

    With painstaking care, I spent hours rebuilding the key. Once it was done, I fitted it into the lock. Immediately, I knew there was something different. It took just a second to understand what. This was part of the Snake's plans all along. The key couldn't be used over and over again. Now that I knew more about his style and work, I realized the first key was modifying the original seal. Every time it was used, the efficiency decreased. Not enough to be fatal, but enough that I was now on a timer.

    His plans all along. If I couldn't be better than him, I'd be forced to seek him out. I wasn't going to lie; I was kinda amazed at how devious he was. The fucker.

    My options weren't great. Maybe Tsunade could help? I just needed to convince the future Hokage-sama to poke me on my insides.

    …

    Huh, that didn't sound very nice.

    When I opened my eyes, the cave's darkness greeted me. All around me were sounds of moving, grunting, and the ever-present musky smell.

    I was on a mound of furs, Karin sleeping by my side, grabbing me like a cushion. I looked around. We were inside what looked like a small nook in the stone wall. Beyond, I saw shapes moving in the darkness around us. Big, small. Every one of them was a bundle of chakra. There was, besides the fur pile, a bowl with water, another with fruits. That was nice of whoever did that. I disentangled myself from Karin, rolled on the furs until I was by the bowl side, grabbed it, and drank as much as I could.

    It tasted a bit earthy and stale. And it was the best thing I had ever drunk.

    Sweet nectar down my throat and munching on tasty fruit cleared my head to think of more pressing matters. Where was I? With all the events post space-time jutsu, I hadn't paid attention to my surroundings. How long had it been already? What happened to the mission? Given the amount of chakra around, I was pretty sure that, somehow, my gamble worked. If I could convince my destined animal shinobi companions to sign a contract with me, maybe they could send me back to the land of waves.

    Even if I was days too late to help, I could at least try to learn what happened with the rest of the team.

    No, that wasn't the real reason. That was just the lie I told myself to make me feel better. What I was worried about was the revelations I learned from the laboratory. Was I a clone? I still thought I wasn't, but on the not-zero chance I was, where was the original Hinata? Could she be, for example, being held, for years, in some dank, dark prison Orochimaru used to keep his captives? Like the one in the Land of Waves?

    My moving around attracted attention.

    A small shape approached from the darkness. It was also a tiny bundle of chakra. I placed the bowl down, sat up, and waited. It didn't take long for the interloper— or was I the interloper?— to approach.

    Small — maybe a bit bigger than a Miniature Pinscher—, stocky, triangular head with beady eyes and small ears. Dark fur covered most of its face, with white hair from above its eyes to the end of its short tail. It had wicked claws on the front paws. It also wore what looked like a shinobi's uniform, with dark-colored fabric covering parts of its body and a utility belt around its torso.

    A honey badger. A mini ninja honey badger.

    It stopped, got on its hind legs, and stared at me. Still stunned, I could only stare back. Why badgers, of all things? I wasn't going to lie. It looked cute as heck. I wanted to pick it up, cuddle, maybe pet it.

    The badger raised its paw; its wicked claw pointed at my face—no, not at my face, at my eye—the one with the snake pupil. My hand moved, tracing the skin just beneath said eye. The badger tilted its head, tittered. It was so cute. Then it spoke, a soft, squeaky female voice.

    "Imma gonna gouge out that eye and eat it up." The tittering rose into laughter. "Just wait till pops says you're food."

    I take back what I said. She wasn't cute. She was freaking adorable! Like a creepy-cute-little-murder-ninja. I wanted to cuddle her. I might even have tried.


    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Monday.
    Proofreader: CakeEight.
     
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    • I lay on the fur pile, nursing a bitten finger and trying to sleep. Karin, the grabber, had ensnared me the moment I settled by her side. She wasn't only a grabber, though. In the ten minutes I was here staring at the darkness and trying to sleep, she pulled my hair, kicked my legs, scratched my arms.

    Was she having a bad dream? A careful, probing look left me with more questions than answers. Her face was calm and peaceful, as if she dreamed of something pleasant. This was contrary to the reality I was experiencing, but I decided to endure it instead of shaking the redhead awake. It had nothing to do with her holding me and the human contact. Nu-uh. I just didn't want to wake her up. That was all.

    I closed my eyes, thinking of blondes, cupcakes, and dates. I wanted to see Ino.

    It felt like I had just blinked when everything changed. The light from the ceiling crystals was brighter, the chattering and rustling all around louder. My mini-ninja-killer abused finger was no longer smarting from the bite, and Karin was still making me her pillow. For the second time, I disentangled myself from her.

    I got up, looking around. The previous night, tired from the ordeal and lack of sleep, I wasn't in the right frame of mind to realize we could be in real trouble. I cleared the crust from my eyes, unlimbered my sore limbs. It was time to get the ball rolling. I pushed my chakra, created a beacon for my Kuro Raikou no Jutsu. There was a tinge of painful heat inside my body following that. I held back in a groan. Fucking fucker Orochimaru.

    Karin was still asleep even after all that moving about. Was this a side effect of me draining her life force twice in a single day? I shook her awake.

    I pressed the wood kunai to Karin, and while she got ready, with one last stretch, I left the furs. I looked around, trying to see what was different from before I fell asleep. The guards I noticed before falling asleep weren't here anymore, but many more were going around outside the alcove.

    Badgers, a lot of ninja badgers. Tiny cubs running, grunting, and playing. This small group was trying to throw shuriken, which was too big to hold. Another older group was play-fighting. Or at least, I hoped they were play-fighting. It looked brutal enough, but there was no blood, so I was keen on thinking they were only playing.

    "Good morning, Karin-chan." I wrote with my threads.

    Karin pulled the bed hair out of her face. Fur lines marks on her skin. She looked worse than I'd seen her ever. "Errrhhr" she groaned. I took that as a yes.

    The small nook we slept in led to a larger tunnel or area. The crystals in the ceiling provided some illumination, but it was like faint moonlight. Enough to move by. With no idea where exactly to go, I picked the direction with the most chakra bundles. Karin shambled behind me.

    The central passage, large and tall, had several other small alcoves and tunnels branching from it. Across from where we slept there was an area that looked like a nursery, given the number of cubs and mini-badgers there. I'm guessing the she-devil that bit my finger escaped from there. The place wasn't unprotected. Pony-sized badgers kept the place secure. I was sure they were using some sort of ninja jutsu or something. The only reason I knew they were there was because of their chakra. It took a while of staring at the spot one was at to see it, and I was sure it let me.

    The one that broke his stealth was kind enough to point me in the correct direction.

    What I meant by pointing was grunting, growling, and bare fangs whenever we tried to move anywhere other than a particular direction. I was guessing they weren't happy with us for some reason.

    Another room down along the path had what looked like a classroom. The badgers there were older, or at least larger than the cubs, and the teacher, a scarred-looking, grey-furred badger, pointing to a mural with several sets of images. In the darkness, they were more complicated to make sense of. The first one depicted what looked like a burrow and a group of badgers. The second was the badgers and a group of humans. In the third, there was some sort of agreement or trade. The mural showed the badgers receiving jars, fabrics, and other items. The next mural I could see showed the badgers fighting alongside the humans.

    Badgers receiving jars and fabrics seemed strange. Were those payments for their help? A trade agreement for their loyalty? The jars looked similar to honey pots I'd seen in Konoha markets while shopping for ingredients for my pastries.

    On the other side of the room, an epic battle unfolded across the mural: badgers, clawed and fierce, clashed with giant bees the size of wolves. The bees swarmed over the badgers, their stingers dripping with what I imagined was venom. One badger stood atop a fallen bee, triumphant, but others around him lay lifeless. There were more murals, but I'd need to enter the room to see them.

    Most badgers seemed to talk in a grunting language I couldn't understand. At least, that was the impression I got. There was a lot of chattering and grunting whenever I approached. Some sounded suspiciously similar to laughter.

    Following the path led to an even larger chamber, where we had arrived at. The badger I mistook for a hillock was there, giant beady eyes focused on us.

    Karin whimpered. Grabbed my arm. I looked back. She looked even paler now. Had the big lug of a hillock badger done something to her while I wasn't paying attention? I patted her head. Still not sure why people liked doing it, but it might have a good reason.

    Karin looked somewhat calmer. But still didn't release me.

    I turned back to the giant badger. This was going to take a toll. My comms board was AWOL; summoning a clone might cause trouble. Oh well, it was time to bleed for my ideals. I squared my shoulders, raised my head. The circumstances of our arrival might have been strange, but I was here to show the badgers that making a contract with me would benefit them, too. Not sure how it would benefit them, but I was going to do my best to convince the big one.

    "The summoner survived," the badger's voice rumbled. His eyes flicked down toward its massive paw. There was a small bundle of chakra there. "You can't eat her eye, cub."

    A familiar female squeaky voice squeaked in response, "Imma no cub no more pops. I earned my name." The little devil turned to me and growled. It was adorable. "And why not? She's tainted and brought an unworthy one!"

    I didn't like where that conversation was going.

    A chuckle that sounded more like an earthquake preceded the answer. "Right, Kumoko."

    That was a strange choice of name. If I understood it right, didn't that mean Spider Child? Why would a mini murder badger be named that, of all things?

    The big face turned toward me. It was marred with many scars. Most were hidden beneath the coarse black and white fur but still visible if I paid enough attention. Somehow, the atmosphere changed after the chuckle, like a switch turned on.

    "You arrived uninvited and dying," the big one said. "I gave you shelter. I shared my food and water. You partook in my hospitality. No harm befell on you," the big one stopped, glanced down at Kumoko, "that wasn't of your own making." Was he implying the little-she-devil was right in biting me? I mean, I did try to pet her, but still. "Customs were observed."

    There was a pregnant pause. Was I supposed to say something?

    "I'm the patriarch of this clan, and you may call me Tsuchigaru. Why have you come here, Hebigan Kuchiyose-te?"

    My mind raced at the question. I knew why I was here. It had been a gamble, and I needed to escape. I hadn't known where I would appear, but as long as it wasn't snakes, I was happy with making a contract with any other shinobi animal clan. But there was something strange in his way of addressing me. Names, I was coming to realize, meant a lot to these badgers. The big one meant Earth Growler, which was fitting, all things considered. If I took it at face value, the way he addressed me meant Snake-Eye summoner.

    I wasn't sure what that meant, but I could convince them to sign a contract with me as long as they weren't hostile. I thought back on what benefits I could provide. I had my modified storage seals, my explosives. I could help them get things from the human population and bring it back here. It might be expensive, but I wasn't that poor anymore. I nodded. I could work with that. I opened my mouth. I didn't manage to speak.

    "You reek of the snake clan. Why shouldn't I let my daughter eat your eye and entrails for trespassing into my lands?"



    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Wed.
    Proofreader: CakeEight.

    Releases update: I'm going back to morning releases. GTM 11AM. Releasing chapters this late is bad for my sleep. I keep wanting to check the site for comments. Yeah, I'm spoiled that way.

    Backlog update: I've written up to 7.15. I liked how most of those turned out. Arc seven, I think it's going to be a long one. I might need to slice it into another, maybe. I'll see how things shape up. I'm in chapter 7.15 already and there are four big events that I wanted to cover in this arc. Don't know yet how I'll organize it yet.
     
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    • Tension thick enough to cut with a kunai pressed on me. Tsuchigaru's massive eyes bore down on us. Karin's grip on my arm reached the death-grip settings. I fought the urge to shrink back. That's not how I expected things to go after the somewhat peaceful start, but I noticed a few things. For one, that the big one hadn't killed us yet. For another, what was this about the snake's stench? The only thing I could think of regarding the snake was my eye and Orochimaru. Orochimaru also meant Ryuchi Cave and his summons.

    That gave me an idea to try. I wasn't a friend of the snakes; I very much had a blood feud with Orochimaru. I could use that, but I wasn't willing to give that information for free. I remembered the murals, and the pictographs of badgers and humans trading. Maybe they liked to barter? Why else would they have a history lesson over that? I could do bartering. It was even in my favor since I had nothing else besides information to offer.

    The best case scenario was to enlist their help with a contract, gather supplies, and have them send me back from wherever their lands were. In a worst-case scenario, I'd settle up to leaving here alive, with information on how to return to Konoha.

    I puffed my non-existent chest, raised my head. Confidence, that was now my middle name.

    "I am no snake friend. I fought and killed them before." I mean, not me, me. It was Naruto and Sasuke who killed those giant snakes in the Forest of Death, but I helped, right? I even had a hand in their training. I hope they didn't mind me taking credit. "I have a blood feud against their summoner; I orchestrated his fall." Even if I didn't believe that was the last I had seen of Orochimaru and that it wasn't me who killed him, but the Hokage and Shisui. I was the one that moved the pieces years before. That also counted as my kill, right? Right?

    Alliances declared, boast stated, I started my sales pitch. "You'll sign a summoner contract with me," I rasped, held in the urge to cough. I wasn't good at negotiations, but I knew you should always shoot up for the biggest you can and negotiate to a more realistic outcome. "You'll send us back, give us supplies and equipment. In return, I'll provide you with news regarding the snake-clan."

    A rumble from above followed my declaration. "You want to barter?" The voice asked, amused. Tsuchigaru's eyes glinted in the semi-darkness of the cave.

    Kumoko's tiny chakra bundle moved. She dashed from the big paws side until she was at Tsuchigaru's face. "Pops! Lemme handle this!" Her small, fur-covered frame shook. She looked a bit silly, glaring up at her giant father.

    "And why should I let you, cub? You've already meddled enough when I ordered our guests to be left alone."

    "Cause I earned my name!" The answer came in a high-pitched, squeaky growl. "I can handle this stuff now!" Kumoko's puffed tail pointed straight up. She turned to me. "Let me barter with the snake girl. If she's lying, I can always eat her eye after."

    Why was Kumoko so obsessed with my eye?

    Another quake-chuckle rumbled through the room. "Have it your way then, Kumoko."

    Kumoko preened, tail still straight up. "Snake girl," she squeaky-growled my way. Was she trying to be intimidating? "Here are my terms for you: The snake girl will surrender all her secrets, give me her eye, and the Iron Skin clan will let her leave this place alive!"

    I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I wanted to feel insulted that I was relegated to deal with his kid, but wasn't that to my advantage? Hoodwinking—I mean, convincing Kumoko might be much easier than her father.






    "No!" Kumoko's tail lashed out.

    The she-devil paced in front of me. I had, at some point, sat down. Karin had also sat by my side and now rested her head on my lap. Gentle breathing indicated she was fast asleep. I couldn't blame her, the negotiation had gone on for the better part of an hour, and Karin hadn't recovered from me sucking her dry of life force the previous day. I was worried. Karin displayed an uncomfortable level of trust and familiarity with me for someone she barely met a few hours ago. Was this one of those cases of abuse victims imprinting on their saviors or some bullshit like that?

    I was holding a bloodied piece of Karin's shirt. The redhead was kind enough to offer me a scrap of fabric to clean the blood from my mouth before she fell asleep. My throat was a stinging mess, and I was ready to be done with this. Maybe this was Kumoko's strategy. Drag this out as much as possible until I give up and agree to her inane demands.

    Kumoko looked at her giant dad again. She'd done that whenever declaring her terms. Was she looking for the approval of the patriarch? She looked back at me, eyes narrowing.

    "The clan will give the snake-girl supplies, help her find her way back to human lands, sign a summoning contract with her." She said with another frustrated lash of her short tail. "She'll give us the information about the snake clan and their summoner, pay in high-quality honey for each summon, help us acquire supplies from human lands, and give me her eye."

    We had come to somewhat agreeable terms.

    A summoning contract with the Iron Hide badger clan, each summon paid in honey, the amount depending on the badger summoned and the task performed. Honey wasn't that cheap in Konoha, but I had contacts. If I didn't abuse the summons, I wouldn't have problems with the payment. I also didn't mind summoning them from time to time and providing them with storage seals so they could move stuff from Konoha back to their land.

    Shinobi equipment for Karin and me. I was tired of walking around half-naked. It wasn't the worst here, because none of the badgers seemed to care about my state of undress, but I often caught Karin's averted gaze whenever I moved. Yeah, nope. I was too young to be flashing redheads.

    A way back to Konoha. Unfortunately, the badger clan couldn't reverse-summon me back to the Land of Waves. About a decade ago, they had cut ties with most of the shinobis in the great countries. There was no agent in the human lands to perform the summons, so we settled up for the Iron Hide clan providing a guide to help us on the long trip back.

    The problem was that Kumoko was obsessed with my eye, and I wasn't sure why. She never budged on that one demand. Trying to negotiate around it was a waste of time. Trying to learn why was also a waste of time. I wasn't keen on going blind because the cub wanted my eye. That left me trying to compromise.

    "I agree with most of that," I started, and Kumoko's head perked up. "I even agree with your demand for my eye," the she-devil took a step toward me, and I rushed to add through the pain in my throat, "with conditions."

    Kumoko stopped, tail puffed, and lashed out again. "What conditions?"

    "I'll give you the eye if and when I recover my own to replace it." I rasped out.

    I wasn't sure if I could ever recover my eye from the Hyuga or where the other eye was, but on the chance I did, I wasn't against letting Kumoko have the snake eye. I'd even cheer her on if she wanted to snack on the thing. I just wasn't about to set myself on fire to make her feel warm, so to speak.

    Kumoko growled and clawed the ground. I saw the refusal coming, but a rumble from the silent patriarch ended her building comeback. Kumoko shook for a moment, pawed the ground again, and lashed her tail even more.

    "What do you mean?" She finally asked.

    I shrugged. "Someone stole my eyes; put this one in its place. I want to get my own back."

    Kumoko stared for a long while, then she nodded. "Agreed."

    I let out a sigh of relief. That had been way more difficult and tiring than I had anticipated.

    "Good job, cub," Tsuchigaru praised and ignored the growly "not a cub" from Kumoko. He turned to me. "Thank you for letting my daughter have her first barter, the opportunities are rare these days."

    I nodded at the patriarch. Mostly, I was glad this was over.

    "Kumoko will take you to our storage to gather equipment and lead you to the hive; I'll have the contract ready once you return."

    What was he talking about? Return from what hive? "Return?"

    Tsuchigaru's eyes bore on me again. "Of course," the clan leader said, "no respectable badger clan will sign a contract without a gift of royal jelly. Kumoko will guide you to the Bee's hive."

    My shoulder slumped. Of course, why had I thought it would be this easy? I could even hear the capitalization of the word bee from the patriarch. These were going to be some giant killer bees, weren't they?



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    • It was the day after the negotiations. Kumoko led the way through a series of tunnels, some big, others small, twists and turns and passages that sometimes looked all the same.

    Even after another day of rest, Karin wasn't in better condition. The redhead lagged behind, and I often had to stop and wait until she caught up. At one point, I offered to carry her, but she just shook her head and pushed me to keep moving. Had I sucked out that much of her life force? I wasn't in the right frame of mind at the time — dying and all — and I don't really remember how much I took from her.

    The path Kumoko led us through would take us near the so-called hive. We've been walking for the better part of the day in the twisting labyrinthine tunnels.

    Karin and I visited the badger's "storage" to get the gear I bargained for. There wasn't much we could use there; most of the contents were designed for badgers. Even so, we managed to find things we could use. I found a green kimono that fit me more or less. The lack of underthings, I solved by cosplaying a mummy. Lack of shoes? Bandages. Lack of gloves? Bandages. Lack of a bra? Bandages. No belt? Well, you get it.

    On the other hand, the redhead still had some of her gear from when she got captured. Her captors hadn't bothered to take all of her stuff, only weapons and tools. After raiding the storage, Karin now wore a dark brown kimono over a fishnet bodysuit. She still had the open-toed shinobi footwear. All in all, she looked good. At least, that is what I thought, anyway.

    Kumoko stopped near a small tunnel leading upwards. "We're here, snake girl."

    I looked at the mini-badger; the tunnel upward. Kumoko didn't seem keen on going up. I wrote words and Karin read them out loud for me. "Aren't you coming with us?"

    "Nuh-uh, can't help ya." The she-devil said, entire body shaking in denial. She was already used to mine and Karin's antics. "You gotta get the royal jelly yourself; otherwise, what would be the point?"

    "What's up there?" Karin read my next question.

    "Forest," Kumoko's head looked back toward the tunnel we just came from. "Pops said there's a path nearby, find and follow it, shoulda take you to the hive."

    That smelled fishy. I was pretty sure something was wrong with this whole situation, I just couldn't say what. I looked at Karin, who just shrugged. I started toward the tunnel.

    "Don't take too long, snake girl," Kumoko called out after us, tail lashing. "I won't wait forever."

    Delaying the royal jelly gathering mission for a whole day wasn't just to let Karin recover. I wanted to prepare. Both badgers — giant dad and mini she-devil— were mum about the bee's hive. Both ignored subtle questions and direct inquiries. That left me trying to prepare for things I wasn't aware of.

    Fortunately, raiding the badger's storage didn't result only in new clothing fashion. We managed to find a few kunai and shuriken that were similar to what I was used to. But the jackpot was finding sealing paper. That gave me a good idea to try. Bee's were weak to smoke, right? I didn't need to fight any assumed giant killer bees to steal their jelly. I could, you know, just put the whole hive to sleep and sneak in to steal the jelly.

    That was how the previous day ended. I returned to our designed alcove with a shambling Karin in tow. She slept, and I prepared seals.

    Tight stone walls of the tunnel Kumoko led us to pressed closer around us. The tunnel was dark, and the passage grew steeper the more we climbed. I wasn't one to be claustrophobic, but it felt uncomfortable. Until now, I hadn't considered we were underground this whole while. The soft crystal lights managed to trick me somehow. This passage had no crystals to provide illumination, forcing Karin and me to navigate through the darkness. I used my threads to help me navigate, kept a bandaged hand on the rough wall to steady myself, and held one of Karin's.

    Karin followed behind, breaths shallow. Even without being able to see her, I kept looking back. Karin was never a front-liner combatant in the show, more of a supporting cast. I was worried about her.

    When we emerged from the tunnels, the sunlight blinded me. I stood still at the passage entrance, eyes closed, breathing the fresh scent of earth and greenery. Slowly, the spots in my vision disappeared, and a strange forest stretched out before us; a wild and untamed expanse of towering trees and thick undergrowth. The canopy above let in scattered rays of sunlight.

    It was quiet—almost too quiet. There were no bird calls or sounds of other animals. Only the faint hum of insects broke the silence.

    Karin walked from behind me soon after. She stopped by my side, also surveying the forest.

    "Creepy,"she muttered.

    I agreed with her. There was something really wrong here. This place was strange. At first, it looked like a typical forest, but the more I looked, the worse I felt. It was the bark's color, the leaves' shape, the scent in the air, the shrubs and vines. They were all so familiar yet different in a way that set my teeth on edge. What was this place? Where had my summoning gamble taken us? I knew there were many contracted ninja animals in Naruto's world; take Pink-chan, I mean, Tayuya, for example. She could summon some giant creatures, or Pain and the Animal path. But I had never heard of badgers.

    More than that, I couldn't dismiss the feeling I was missing something important.

    "What complicated thing are you thinking about?"

    I turned, faced Karin. How did she know? My threads wrote my question. "Can you read my mind?"

    Karin waved, rolled her eyes. "I wish." There was a bit more enthusiasm in her posture. "I can see your chakra. It got all swirly and spiky."

    Was that supposed to mean anything? What was she going on about?

    "Now it's all chaotic. That one is easy, confusion." Karin stopped, scratched her cheek. "You have no idea what I'm talking about."

    I shook my head.

    She sighed, trying to push the hair out of her face. Looked away. "I can somewhat tell how someone is feeling based on how their chakra moves. It's usually not that precise but," she looked at me. No, it was like she was looking inside me. "But yours is so clear and responsive and bubbly. It's really easy to tell what you're feeling."

    I scowled. That was bullshit, and not fucking fair.

    "Now it's alternating between spiky and shivering. That's usually frustration and insecurity."

    I glared at her.

    "It's all dense now. Resentment?"

    I glared even harder.

    Karin looked from my navel to my face. Blushed, looked away. "Err, anyway, where are we going?"

    Before anything else, I wasn't about to make the same mistake. I held my hand out, a hardwood kunai formed on my palm, the beacon seal already inscribed. I ignored the spike of pain from bone seals. The pain hadn't faded away after getting it back in control, it was this constant buzz that most of the times I could put out of my mind.

    By my side, Karin gasped, gripped my arm tightly. I ignored her. My chakra dipped lower, but that was fine. I held the kunai to Karin.

    "Keep that, don't lose it. If things go bad, I'll try to lead the enemy away. As long as you have that, I can find you anywhere."

    It felt strange misleading Karin like that. I was hoping she would take my words as the kunai being a tracking device, which wasn't wrong. The original function was that, but I could also spy on her, and teleport to her if needed. That way, if the worst happened, I'd be able to react in time, use her as bait, or even lead any enemy away then go back to Karin after she gave them the slip. Was I being this paranoid because of Sai?

    Karin gave me a considering look. She was reading my chakra again, wasn't she? Damn it. She took the kunai, gave me a nod. She turned, looked in the distance, like she was looking through the trees.

    "I can sense chakra, a lot of it, it feels different, somehow."

    "Different how?" I wrote.

    Karin looked back at me, shrugged. "Remind me of the badgers?"

    "Are they close?"

    Karin shook her head, looked in the distance again. "About half an hour out, if we walk slowly."

    How… large was her sensing distance? I thought mine was good, about a hundred meters all around me. What did it mean for her range if this chakra presence was that far away? So fucking unfair. The more I learned about her chakra sense, the more mine looked like a discounted, cheap version no one else wanted. I shook those thoughts away. It wasn't time to be petty, or jelly. I could do that later, once we were safe back at Konoha.

    I looked around. Trying to find said trail Kumoko told us about. After a moment, I summoned two clones to help me. While my clones got their bearings, I walked a bit further away from the entrance, then took my water-skin to take a sip. That much walking left me thirsty.

    "Hello, Ojou-chan. You're so pretty!" One of my clones husked out.

    I coughed, spat the water I had just drank.

    "Eh?" Karin gasped.

    I looked around. My clones were around Karin. One was slightly hunched over, one hand on her hips, another grabbing Karin's waist, with a lecherous grin on her face. The second clone had a hand on her chin, a calculating look on her face, like checking merchandise. Karin was trapped between the two, with the clones invading her personal space.

    "How about ya come with us?" Clone two said, hand going to Karin's mane of red hair and gently tugging free a lock. Clone two looked at me, sent me a quick devilish grin before she turned to Karin. "We'll take good care of ya." She husked again.

    "Eeh?" Karin looked spooked. She glanced from my clones at me and then back at the clones.

    I face-palmed. Why were the clones behaving like that? I wasn't that bad, right? …Right?

    …

    That decided it; no more clones. I might as well take a page from Shikamaru's book and name them Troublesome-chan, The First and Second. Resigned to my fate, I crouched, kept looking, drank more water. I hoped that by the end of this, my clones didn't traumatize Karin…

    …Too much.


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    • The trail Kumoko mentioned wasn't obvious. A quick search gave me no clue about where it was. Not that it was a concern at this point, not with Karin's absurd sensing range. For some reason, Karin took refuge behind me from my clones. Trouble-chan, First and Second, tried to harass the redhead again, but my stern glare was enough to dissuade them.

    Under Karin's scared eyes, I had a brief signal conversation with my clones. It went something like this:





    Me: Kunai, seal, placement, around, smoke.

    T1: Explosion?

    Me: Negative, smoke, objective, explosion bad.

    T2: Indignation, protest, revise plan, explosion good.

    Me: Mission objective, critical, capture, asset acquisition, destruction bad.

    T1: Foul play, unfair.

    T2: Unhappy, protest.





    Once prepared, we set off toward the chakra Karin could sense in the distance.

    The forest floor was a carpet of moss and fallen leaves, broken by massive roots. Strange fungi growing in clusters, some glowing with soft phosphorescent light, others looking decidedly alien and potentially poisonous.

    I found the trail a couple of minutes away from the tunnel entrance. It was tiny markers on tree bark. It was subtle enough that if I didn't know better, I'd have missed it. The trail led to a narrow, winding path cutting through the dense foliage.

    The forest changed the closer we got to our destination. Trees grew sparser, and a low humming became audible. Not the tiny buzz of normal bees but a deeper sound that vibrated through the air.

    We slowed our pace, made sure to walk in silence. I peeked from behind a huge tree, then I saw it.

    The hive was enormous. Easily the size of a three-story building, it was a massive structure of waxy, honeycomb-like material clinging to the side of a massive tree. Giant bee sentinels, each the size of a large dog and bigger, crawled across its surface. Their bodies were jet black with sharp yellow markings, mandibles that looked like curved daggers.

    That mural I saw back at the badger's lair came to mind. I remembered the dead badgers around the sole surviving one.

    Karin sucked in a breath beside me.

    "This is insane," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the bees. "We're not going in there, right?"

    I didn't need to write anything for her to know what I thought. She probably could read it from my chakra. This was bad. Very bad. Sneaking past one giant bee might've been possible. Sneaking past dozens? And then stealing royal jelly from that hive? I swallowed, fingers tightening around the kunai. Exchanged another glance with my clones.

    "We have a plan, right?" Karin whispered, her eyes flickering to me.

    I didn't respond right away. My gaze locked on the hive and the countless bees crawling all over it. The buzzing was deafening at this distance, the sound filling the air like a living thing. I reached into my pouch and pulled out another one of the seals I'd prepared. I was hoping the smoke would work. I gestured to her to keep quiet, then took her hand and led her away from the hive.

    Once we were a safe distance, I wrote what I mulled on the way over.

    "Do you remember how to reach the tunnel's entrance?"

    Karin looked at the words, then back at me. She nodded.

    "Go back and wait for me there."

    "No," she pulled her hand away from mine. "Don't be stupid, I can help."

    Was I being patronizing by trying to send her away? It wasn't even that I thought she couldn't fight. I knew Karin was strong, even if she wasn't a combat specialist like other shinobi. No, I wanted her to return to the tunnel's entrance because if she went back, it would keep her safe, given she wasn't in the best condition, and that would also give me a last-resort escape route. But to explain that, I would have to come clean about the beacon.

    At least about teleport function. I didn't need to tell her about the spying function. Well, I couldn't let one betrayal color all my future interactions.

    "No, it's not that," I wrote with my threads. I gestured to one of my clones, signed a message when she looked my way. Trouble-chan the Second gave me a nod. I turned back to Karin, wrote more words.

    "The wood kunai I gave you is my escape route if things go south."

    Karin read the words, tilted her head. She opened her mouth, but Trouble-chan teleported before she could ask her question. I barely caught the movement from my clone, and I was waiting for it. Trouble-chan did a one-hand confrontation seal, probably to look cool since I knew we could teleport without making those, and arrived with arms already open and hugging the redhead.

    "Eep." Karin squeaked, then pushed my clone away. Soon after, she hid behind me again, glaring at the clone.

    Trouble-chan, the Second, pouted. Stuck her tongue at Karin. Then, she jogged back to where she was and picked up the seals and kunai that had fallen on the forest floor when she teleported. I rolled my eyes at her antics.

    Why were my clones so insistent in teasing Karin like that? I mean, I knew why. They were teasing me, and Karin was just a bonus, but even so. That was a bit unfair.

    I had my clone teleport because I didn't want another flashing incident. The clone's clothes were chakra constructs. She was in no danger of leaving her clothes behind. If I tried that, on the other hand… Well, let's just not.

    "See?" I wrote when Karin looked back at me. "If you're somewhere safe, I can always use your position to escape if I need to run." I tilted my head, added more regarding my reason. "And I know you're not in top condition because I drained you from your life force."

    Karin glanced at her bandaged arms, then looked away.

    In all the confusion and events after our escape, I never took the chance to thank her for saving my life twice. I walked closer, and taking a page from my clone's books, I gave Karin a hug.

    "Eeep!" She squeaked again.

    Huh, yeah, that was pretty funny. I guess I know now why my clones do it. But I shook my head; not the time to get distracted.

    "Thank you for saving my life twice," I croaked out. I didn't feel like writing a 'thank you' was the best option. "I owe you."

    After a moment, her arms found their way around me, nestling her head around my neck. She mumbled something I couldn't understand, but I decided it meant "You're welcome" or something similar.

    It didn't last. She pushed me away, looked back toward the trail that led to the tunnel. She looked back at me after a moment.

    "Be careful, okay?" Karin said.

    I nodded.

    "I don't trust them." She added.

    I nodded again.

    "They said I would be food if you died."

    I scowled, nodded a third time, wrote my answer. "I will be careful."

    Karin turned and started her way back, away from the hive of giant killer bees. I turned to my clones. It was time to get the ball rolling. With luck, the smoke plan would work.






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    • Plant the smoke bombs, put the killer bees to sleep, sneak in, steal the jelly.

    That was not how I imagined my shinobi companion contract would go. This plan was conditional on the smoking working on the killer bees as it did for normal-sized ones. I wasn't a bee expert. The most I knew was from idle chatter when buying honey for my pastries. And even so, I often didn't pay much attention to the beekeeper's chattering.

    The knowledge amounted to vague recollections about pheromones and instinctive feeding responses.

    I placed the last kunai, cast one more look at the hive in the distance. I wasn't sure how I would get to the jelly without causing too much damage. With the setup done, I sneaked away. Trouble-chan, First and Second, had already placed their kunais in the formation and unpopped themselves. That was easier than trying to move back and alerting the bees. I thought back on the plan one last time: Trigger the smoke, wait a few minutes until the bees are— hopefully— calm and pacified, sneak to the hive, cut a way in, steal the jelly.

    Once I was far enough away, I activated the barrier, then the smoke bombs. The humming cut immediately when the barrier formed, and soon after, the area was covered in white smoke.

    I took a prepared seal from my temporary gear. Out popped a large machete and a clay jar. I counted the minutes. Placed a piece of fabric around my mouth to help filter the smoke out. Once enough time had passed, I dispersed the barrier and sneaked inside again to steal from royalty.

    The smoke-filled area created an eerie atmosphere. I approached the hive, paying close attention to any new buzzing. I walked to the base of the tree and looked up at the massive structure: complex hexagonal chambers and giant bees walking slowly over them. The movements were sluggish and unfocused.

    So far, so good.

    I coated my feet with chakra and climbed the tree until I reached the hive. Now I had to find the thing. I pressed my hand against the waxy surface, tested how strong it was. The material was warm, and yielded under my hand. That was good, the knife would work.

    Finding the right spot took longer than expected. Again, I wasn't a bee expert, but this hive looked nothing like what I remembered: everything was scaled up and somewhat different. I moved with care, going past drunk guard bees the size of dogs. Their mandibles even now looked capable of cutting limbs off.

    Finally, I found what I was looking for: this one section felt and looked different, warmer. I hoisted the clay jar to one hand, took the knife with another. With careful movements, I made an incision. I repeated the same movements until I had a square-ish opening. I pulled the wax open and peered through.

    Light filtered in to reveal a large hexagonal tube like structure with a huge milky-white grub happily grubbing in a jelly like substance.

    Past the grub, one large compound eye stared back at me. An eye filled with intelligence that should have been impossible for an insect. That was the Queen, wasn't it? I didn't see her move, but I heard her buzzing: the air vibrated with that bone-shaking frequency I'd heard before, only ten times worse.

    Oh shit!

    That's the only thing I had time to think about before the drunk bees started to buzz. Louder and angrier, somehow. The bees began to stir, movements becoming more and more coordinated.

    I let go of the knife; I had no time to care for it. I plunged my now free hand into the opening, fingers scraping the waxy walls, scooped a handful of the thick, gelatinous substance. The grub, startled, wiggled at my intrusion. The Queen buzzed harder. The buzzing outside grew more frantic. I scooped two other handfuls when the first bee took to the air. Massive wings blew away what was left of the smoke.

    The stopper went into the clay jar opening. With no time for finesse or to gather the knife I discarded earlier, I flickered from the hive to the forest floor, pushed my legs full of chakra, and legged away. A swarm of bees was now flying toward me, buzzing turned into a roar.

    Into the fading smoke, two other clones materialized. I slapped my full jelly-coated hand on the jars each was carrying, and both clones ran in opposite directions. My jar was dropped into a paper seal and sealed in one fluid motion. My hands flashed with seals, my trusty Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu came to the rescue, and the ground beneath my feet softened. I sank into it like it was water.

    The ground closed above me just in time to stop a wicked sharp sting a few centimeters from my face.

    Through my chakra perception, I could somewhat sense what was happening above. The guard bees split into groups, each pursuing what they thought was their target. Decoy-chan, the Twelfth and Thirtieth, leading the angry insects on a wild chase through the forest.

    I moved through the earth, careful to maintain enough distance that the vibrations from my passage wouldn't be noticeable from above. The queen's buzzing was still audible even through several feet of soil. Were they some contract shinobi insects? It wouldn't be, would it? Imagine now if this created a blood feud with the Aburame clan. I would be pissed.

    Soon after, one of my clones dispersed, sending me a rush of memories. Three guards had cornered her, tried to fight them, scare them off, but the damn insects were frenzied. They kept attacking. Not even our still unnamed mobile barrier was enough to stop their mandibles. It cut through the chakra construct like it was nothing. Twelfth wasn't willing to kill and got killed instead. Was their mandible able to bypass chakra? That was good to know, but it was not information I wanted to test personally.

    The second clone was still going, long out of my perception range. Through the innate sense I shared with every clone, I knew she was getting further and further away, but not exactly where.

    I kept moving through the earth, jar of stolen royal jelly now a damming weight. I was beginning to think these damn badgers hoodwinked me with this whole thing. The mission was accomplished, even if it hadn't gone according to plan.

    After what felt like an eternity but was probably only about fifteen minutes, my second clone unpopped herself. Her memories showed she'd managed to lose her pursuers in a dense part of the forest; she created more clones and divided her pursuers. Clever girl. Was it hubris praising her?

    I waited a bit longer, moving through the earth, before surfacing in a small clearing far from the hive. The first thing I noticed was the silence. There was no angry buzzing, no wing beats, just the normal sounds of the forest. Well, as normal as anything was in this strange place.

    My chakra perception found nothing immediate. The queen's buzzing was a distant vibration now, more felt than heard. I took a moment to catch my breath, checking my reserves. The clones and earth technique had taken a chunk out of my chakra— clones creating clones somehow took even more chakra— but I still had enough to fight if needed.

    I closed my eyes and peered into the spying beacon I left with Karin. She was pacing by the tunnel entrance. That was good. I was afraid the bees would find her even at that distance. Now, I just had to return to the Badger's tunnels without getting caught by angry giant bees or anything else here. Simple, right?




    Thank you for reading. Next chapter Friday.
    Proofreader: CakeEight
     
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    • "Don't even think about it." That was how Karin greeted me when I got back to her.

    I tilted my head, trying to play the innocent card. I'd made my way back, slow and steady, dipping inside the earth at any nearby buzz. I might have been planning to hug or tickle her, because, you know, my clones might have corrupted me and her reactions were funny.

    Karin narrowed her eyes, gaze dipping toward my navel.

    Yeah, bullshit chakra-mind-reading detector. So unfair. Time to change topics. I wrote words. "I got the jelly."

    My proud announcement met me with a suspicious nod. Then her face softened, and she smiled. "That's good. We can finally leave this place, right? I don't like them."

    I could understand her reluctance. We only interacted with two of the clan's badgers, the patriarch and the she-devil. One didn't seem to mind if we just bugged off and got offed somehow, while the other wanted to gouge my eye out. And the other clan members were often indifferent, if not hostile. I knew I was missing something here.

    Was it the eye? That was supposed to be my only connection to Orochimaru and the snakes. But what had Tsuchigaru said? That I reeked like a snake. Was there more to that comment?

    Had Orochimaru added his DNA as well when experimenting on me?

    I shook my head at the idea. If I went down that path, I might as well imagine even more ridiculous scenarios. He might as well have used my body as a gene bowl, mixing Senju, his own, Uchiha, and Hyuga to create a super host.

    "Hinata-chan?" Karin's voice sounded like she was far away.

    No, this was ridiculous, even for him. I was letting my imagination and paranoia get the better of me.

    …

    He wouldn't have done it, would he?

    I paced.

    No, that was too much even for him. Was he trying to create a super body mixing the two strongest dojutsu bloodlines with mokuton's versatility? Then what? He added his DNA to prevent the body from rejecting his soul?

    "Hinata-chan? Your chakra got all chaotic."

    That… might explain the seals. I knew the bone's seal did more than control me. It reinforced my body and made it stronger and more resilient. There were many more effects I still didn't understand, but given the complexity, it did a lot more than just be a death trap and make me stronger. The seal in my heart, somehow I knew, was linked to my chakra.

    When my mokuton abilities awakened for the first time in the Forest of Death, I controlled a vast swath of the forest. It responded to my subconscious mind and didn't leave me chakra drained like using mokuton now did. I still had no idea what the seal even looked like. I was afraid of poking my own heart. The only other heart seal I ever heard about in Naruto's story was that one Madara used to keep Obito and Rin from killing themselves. I was afraid the one in my heart was similar, but maybe I was looking at this all wrong.

    "Hinata? You're scaring me."

    What if the seals weren't a separate thing, but part of a set? Bones to make the vessel stronger, heart to control chakra flow. That would leave the eyes and another question I always ignored.

    One of my eyes, I knew, came from the snake himself. Or that's what I assumed. But there was one big difference. The eye was slitted like a snake's, but black. Orochimaru's eyes were yellow. Why was my snake pupil-eye black? Where had my other eye come from?

    My chakra surged. I directed it toward my eyes and heart. Maybe some light poking around would tell me something useful?

    Fingers pinched my cheeks. Stinging pain made me focus on the world around me.

    Karin was a few centimeters away, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. Hands on my face, fingers pinching my cheeks. "Stop." She managed after trying to speak a few times. "Whatever you're thinking and doing, stop."

    I blinked, confused. What?

    "Stop," Karin said again, still pinching my cheeks.

    I nodded. Not sure what she wanted me to stop.

    "Your chakra," she said, looking down toward my navel. "It was changing, getting all dark and angry."

    "Changing how?" I asked, not bothering with threads this time.

    Karin looked from my navel to my face, then down again. "It's usually clear and bubbly—"

    "This is a mating ritual, innit?" Kumoko's voice cut Karin's explanation. "Pops said you humans have weird ways of showing you wanna mate. Is that it? You're scared of bees, so now you're mating?"

    Karin squeaked, let go of my cheeks like it burned her, pushed me away. I noticed a bit of a blush and had to roll my eyes. How innocent was she? Nothing like I remembered from the original story.

    Kumoko had the worst of timings. It felt like Karin was about to tell me something important, but there was no way I would bring the topic up again near the she-devil. As Karin said earlier, I didn't trust them either, at least not until both sides signed that contract, and maybe not even then.

    I pushed my threads; no time to waste. I wanted to leave this place and return to Konoha, return home. "No mating here. Yet." I wrote. I will admit that the yet was just to tease Karin. "I got the jelly."

    Karin looked at the words, then at me, then at the words again. She stuck her tongue at me, then read the second part of the message. "We got the jelly."

    "Already?" Kumoko said, moving closer. "Where's it? Lemme see it." She demanded.

    The glint in her eyes promised terrible things if I took the jelly out. I wasn't about to let this she-devil ruin things and mess up my contract offerings. I shook my head. Wrote words. Karin read them out loud.

    "No," Karin said, also shaking her head. "It is stored and hidden. We'll take it out once we're back at the nest."

    "Take it out, or I'm gonna show you why my name is Kumoko." The she-devil squeaky growled. It was adorable. But I didn't give in, wrote more words. Mouthpiece Karin read them for me.

    Karin looked between me and Kumoko before reading my words. "The jelly is an offering for your clan. Are you willing to derail your first barter because you're greedy?"

    "Fine," Kumoko said, tail lashing. "When pops tells you the jelly isn't good enough 'cause you didn't let me check, it's your loss."

    "We'll risk it." Karin said, eyes narrowed. "Lead the way."
     
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    • As it turned out, the Jelly was good enough.

    When we got back, the patriarch was ready for us. Kumoko led us toward a bigger cave than the one we arrived in. There, we were met by what looked like the whole Badger clan. Shapes in the dim light, big and small, cubs growling, playing, and chasing. Behind Tsuchigaru, lost in the darkness, an even bigger shape loomed.

    Kumoko's tail waved in what I thought was excitement or maybe anticipation. I hadn't yet had that much contact with her to learn all her tail-tells. The only one I was confident about was the frustrated lashing. She did that a lot, by which I mean all the time. Such a young badger already behaving like a grumpy old grandma.

    I imagined Kumoko and Chiyo-baa meeting. I had to hold in a giggle.

    "You've returned," the giant said, rumbling voice ending my silly musings. "Unscathed."

    An open scroll lay in front of him, splayed on the ground. Even from a distance, I could see names written on it. I knew what to do; a seed of bubbly happiness blossomed inside my gut. I had to hold in Fangirl-sama. My own summoning contract! Oh man, could it get even more ninja than that?

    I walked closer, took out the seal, popped out the jelly jar. Presented my offering.

    "I've returned with the jelly." I rasped out.

    "So you have," Tsuchigaru said.

    The cave descended into expectant silence.

    "It's hereby declared a contract with Hebigan Kuchiyose-te." The patriarch said.

    The cave exploded in growling and chattering and even roars.

    "The summoner will provide the Iron Hide clan information about the snakes, pay in honey for our services, and facilitate acquiring products from the human lands, as well as any other prices negotiated between her and named members of the clan."

    Tsuchigaru stopped, looked at the loud room, then at Kumoko.

    "As negotiated by my youngest cub," — I heard an annoyed 'not a cub' — "Who earned the name Kumoko, the Iron Hide clan will provide our services for payment in honey, supply the summoner with equipment and provide a guide to lead her back to human lands."

    There was a moment of pause. By my side, Kumoko was all but buzzing with anticipation, the annoyance at being called a cub all but forgotten. The room had become quiet again like every badger held its breath. The bubbly happiness in my stomach morphed into something different. I had a sinking feeling that something was very wrong here. I just wasn't sure what.

    Tsuchigaru's face approached me until his giant beady eyes covered my field of vision. "Do you agree?" He asked.

    I looked around at the now quiet spectators, a wide-eyed Karin gripping my wood kunai, and at Kumoko and her eager tail lashing. I couldn't find a reason why I was feeling apprehensive now. The moment stretched, and the silence got heavier.

    "Yes." I said.

    "So be it," the patriarch rumbled. "Sign the contract." He ordered.

    I walked to the unfurled scroll, picked the dagger on top of it, pricked my finger, wrote my name in blood. Immediately, I felt something, like strands of webs shooting in all directions, connecting me to every badger in this chamber and beyond. It lasted for but a moment before it faded again.

    "It's done." Said an even deeper voice from the darkness and the far corners of the room.

    The cave erupted in noise once more. Kumoko started what I could only describe as a happy dance. Was this contract that important? Or was it that she had been the one that negotiated it?

    The patriarch's rumble cut through the noise.

    "Kumoko, you'll guide the summoner back to human lands."

    The she-devil stopped, looked at her father. Her beady eyes were wide.

    "And serve her for a year. Without payment." He said.

    "What? No! Pops, why? I tricked her! Why are you punishing me?" Kumoko cried out, tail lashing out, frantic.

    "Because you tricked her." Tsuchigaru's voice was calm but unrelenting.

    Tricked? What? How? I thought back on the terms of the contract. I couldn't think how I had been tricked.

    Kumoko cried out again. "But the stories! You said–"

    "Those who wished us ill," Tsuchigaru said, voice still calm. "Did the summoner do anything to wish us ill?"

    Kumoko glared at me, then at Karin. "But she brought an unworthy one!"

    "Yes. She was not called, yet she came." Said the patriarch. His tone was final, and even though Kumoko kept grumbling, she didn't argue back.

    Tsuchigaru's stare turned back to me. Bore down for a few moments before it shifted to Karin. "Take her away."

    "No!" Karin shouted.

    From the room's darkness, four badgers, big as horses, wearing armor, fishnet, weapons, ready to fight, stepped out. They moved toward us.

    "Why?" Karin yelled, looking in every direction. "We got the jelly."

    I stared at the big, then the tiny badger, still too stunned to react. I knew now what the trick Kumoko played on me was: the contract never included Karin.

    My mind raced, analyzing this situation, trying to understand what I could do. There had to be a way.

    Tsuchigaru had punished Kumoko for tricking me but hadn't overridden our negotiated terms. He had, in his way, repaid the trickery by forcing Kumoko to answer my summons for a whole year without pay. I was still dubious about the value of one year of servitude compared to whatever they planned to do to Karin. I was sure he wouldn't shy away from drastic measures, but I don't think we were there yet.

    What had he said? "Wished us ill." I hadn't. I didn't even know about the clan before coming here. On the contrary, I was giddy and more than willing to help my fated ninja companions for explosion's sake!

    Wasn't there a clue in the way they addressed Karin? Unworthy one. Why was she unworthy? Was this about not having any affinity with the Badgers as a summoner? I mean, summoning animals in Naruto's world was all but fate. Would she be unworthy because I dragged her here instead of her arriving guided by her own efforts or fate?

    The warriors were closer, and I was running out of time. Karin was now by my side, still holding my hardwood kunai in white-gripped fingers. Her face was a determined scowl.

    I wasn't about to let them take Karin. I owed her two lives, and I was the one who dragged her here. I would do my damnedest best to make sure she left here alive and kicking, even if fighting was out of the question. That left me with only one alternative I could think of.

    "Name your terms." I said.

    Tsuchigaru raised his massive paw. Wicked sharp claws in the air. The warriors stopped.

    "You brought someone who shouldn't be here," Tsuchigaru rumbled, eyes flicking to Karin. "In times past, intruders paid for their release, fought, or died." The silence lingered. "Which one will it be?"

    I looked at Karin, who now death-gripped my arm. Fighting and dying was out of the question.

    "I'll pay."
     
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