Archive of Our Own ^beta

What happened. What's that pain? You grasp your head in pain. Everything feels wrong, this wasn't your head. You clutch your hair and it was clearly not your own hair. Not your nose, not anything.

And then a large hand touched your head and you the pain started to going away, but not the existential crisis.

"Can you open your eyes?" A voice asked.

You could.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" The man said, who you know recognized as Iruka from the well-known anime Naruto.

"Three," you replied.

"You remember what my name is?" he asked.

"It's Iruka right?" You said.

"Right, and your own name?" He asked.

"My own name," you repeated. You'd no idea what your name was. Sure you know your real name, but not here in this world. So you had to admit, "I don't know."

"Your name is Uzumaki Sota. Do you remember how old you are?" He asked.

You shook your head.

"Do you know where you are?" He asked.

"Konoha."

"Right, your eyes are fine and you remember things, not just anything about yourself. Can you tell me the colour of your hair without looking?"

"Yellow?" you guessed based on Naruto's hair.

"No, that's Naruto, your hair is red," he said.

"I don't understand anything, memory isn't supposed to work like that," he mumbled to himself, before turning to you. "You're six years old and you're at the academy training to become a ninja. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes," you replied. "What happened?"

"Another student thought it was funny to drop a rock on your head while you were walking under the roof"

"Who was it?" You asked.

"I'm not telling you as I don't want you to go and take revenge on them, but they're getting punished."

"I wouldn't do that," you pouted. You had to use some of the powers your young age granted you.

"I'm not taking any chances."

"And what would I do?" You asked you kind of need to know to act like yourself.

"I'm not giving you ideas," Iruka replied.

Damn it. What kind of kid were you since Iruka was worried? Were you as much of a prankster as Naruto?

"I'm getting someone to check on you, you should lie down and get some rest. Hopefully, your head will get better," he said and left you on the bed.

There was a mirror in the room, so you ignored the request to rest and took a look at yourself.

And right as Iruka had said, a cute kid with green eyes was looking at you in the mirror. This was you now. With vibrant red hair, kind of like an early Kushina, a true Uzumaki.

You tried locating the head wound, though finding blood in within your hair wasn't the easiest task, especially now as the pain was gone. You knew it was in the top of your head since the rock was dropped on you, so it had to be there somewhere.

And as you tilted your head forward, you could see it in the mirror, a smidge of red not fitting the rest of your bushy redhead. As you parted your hair to get a better look at your scalp, you could see no injury at all. Double checked and triple checked but your head was completely fine.

Did this mean that your awesome Uzumaki genes gave you similar healing ability to Naruto, that wasn't all Kyuubi?

You needed to recollect what you knew and didn't know.

You knew that you somehow got into the world of Naruto with the same people as in the series. Naruto was still there, you had not replaced him. But your existence was out of place. You know nothing about yourself and you couldn't have been a canon character who died too early. If Naruto had known another Uzumaki in the village, they would for sure be mentioned somewhere. I

When was this? Iruka looked younger than you remembered him to be and he knew Naruto, so that meant that Naruto would be attending the academy now. Which meant that if you were the same age, this would be six years before the events of the manga started.

It wouldn't take long to confirm any of this, but it was nice to see that your head was working properly and that you were able to make proper deductions. You may have the body of a six-year-old, but the mind was not. But that would make sense in a world where magic was commonplace.

It would also make it impossible to pretend that something wasn't strange about you, so the best was to just act strange.

And in came another man you recognized.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked as he sat down on a chair next to your bed.

You nodded.

"What do you know about me?" He asked.

"You're Yamanaka Inoichi and you're Ino's father. Are you here to step into my mind to see what's wrong with me?" You asked.

"No, I'm not allowed. But how do you know that, are you friends with Ino?"

"I don't think so. How old is she?" You asked in an attempt to probe him for some information.

"She's in your class, so around your age," he said.

"Oh," you answered. From his perspective, this would make even less sense.

It was at this point a horrifying though got into your head. Would you ever get any fangirls? It would just be wrong, so you hoped fate was on your side. But as long as you didn't save Hinata from bullying and wasn't Sasuke, you should be completely safe. And given your age, you should be safe for at least six years. And by then you'd placed on teams making the problem less likely later on.

Did you have any fun Kekkei Genkai, like those chakra chains?

You were an Uzumaki with wonderful hair. You could try exploring seals. It was always a mystery in canon. How they worked, what they could do, how to make them and why they weren't more widely used.

Sota was probably already a better student than Naruto, and now definitely. Given that your mind would be that of an adult and your brain what of a child, shouldn't this give you a massive boost to your learning rate?

"Do you still remember your name?" He asked you.

"Yes, Uzumaki Sota," you told him.

"Good, you seem to be able to form new memories, at least in the short term. It's a good sign. You can go now, I'll check in on your in a few days, and Iruka will see to you too. You can go home now," he said and tousled your hair.

But there was one problem.

"Where do I live and do I have parents?" You asked before he could leave you.

"You're an orphan," he said. "I don't know anything about your parents, I'm sorry. I'll ask Iruka to show you your way home."

-x-

As you were walking through the streets with Iruka you got to get a real look at the village. You'd not seen it like this before. It was a real place, not like in the games you've played where only the stuff to developers bothered to make was put in place.

"Do things seem new to you?" Iruka asked as he if could see on you that it seemed this was the first time you've seen the village.

"Some, but not everything, I recognize the Mountain with all the faces and the Hokage tower. Could we stop for ramen on the way?" You asked.

"Oh no, don't tell me that your head injury turned you into another Naruto," he said.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to skip class or pull pranks on you. I just want to taste it," you said.

"Very well, I just got my paycheck and you've been through a lot today, but only one bowl."

"Thanks, sensei," you said and smiled to him.

-x-

That was another titbit of information down. Teuchi's ramen was good, but you wouldn't go there every day. You would need to figure out how much pocket money you got each month. Until then you better just buy cheap, so you wouldn't run out of money.

As the two of you entered your apartment, another question came to your mind.

"Where can I buy food?" You asked.

"You don't have to worry about that, someone will deliver it to you regularly," he said.

"I thought Naruto had to get that himself and he's an orphan too, right?" You asked, trying to discern the differences between this world and the canon world.

"I don't know how you know about that, but Naruto ended up not eating much of his food, so he got money to buy himself ramen instead. But please, eat what you're given, it is better for you than what you'll end up buying yourself," Iruka told you. "But you're getting some spending money for snacks and other stuff you might want. You should have a wallet here somewhere."

Or nobody wanted to deliver food to the demon kid. If you were both six, that would mean that the Kyuubi attack happened around six years ago. That was not enough to heal the wounds.

It gave you a bit of comfort that orphans weren't as badly neglected as canon could suggest. But expecting a kid to make their own balanced meals was still a bit too much in your view.

"How can I learn Fuuinjutsu?" You asked.

"Why do you want to learn that?" He asked.

"Head injury," you replied. It was the best you could come up with.

-x-

"You had something you wanted to report?" Hokage asked his two visitors.

Umino Iruka and Yamanaka Inoichi were in front of him.

"Uzumaki Sota suffered a head injury today, he's fine but his memory is all over the place. He has forgotten basic information about himself and gained memories of things he shouldn't have known." Inoichi explained. "May I ask about something?"

"Go ahead,"

"Has Danzo tried getting hands on the boy?" He asked.

"No," Hiruzen said without implying anything further.

"Why would Danzo want anything to do with him?" Iruka asked.

"It's none of your business Iruka," he answered.

"He's my student, that makes it my business. And it makes no sense, he got a head injury nothing more."

"Could be a genjutsu. You may be an excellent school teacher, but that doesn't mean you couldn't be fooled. The only mark left after the incident was a smidge of blood which could have gotten there another way," Inoichi explained.

"We'll talk more about this later, Inoichi. Iruka, did you notice anything other strange things about him?" The Hokage asked Iruka.

"He seems more mature, he wanted ramen, doesn't seem to mind yellow hair anymore and he wanted to learn to learn Fuuinjutsu."

"Kids usually aren't interested in those things. I'll make sure that he'll get a decent tutor. If he gets half as good as the average Uzumaki, he'd be a good resource for the village," The Hokage said.

-x-

Next day you realized how boring school was for six-year-olds. So you were resting your chin on your desk while Iruka was talking about basic maths. You started to understand Naruto now. Though unlike Naruto, you knew all this stuff and you probably knew stuff Iruka had no idea about. As you doubted the ninja maths curriculum went that far.

And you had no interest in socializing with a bunch of small children, it would just be weird.

Last class of the day was all about more practical skills. Target shooting.

It was clear that the Japanese came to you as it was your first language in this world, but how would you fare with ninja abilities. You never had the habit of throwing knives in your previous life, but that was a habit you had to change as an aspiring ninja.

As you observed your fellow students and their below-par performance, you realized how stupid you were right now. You were a small kid, you weren't supposed to be good at it. Most didn't even manage to hit the target, much less hit the bullseye. All you knew was that Sasuke should be somewhat decent at it, as Itachi had probably have tried teaching him a bit. So you decided to study him. Repeating his movements with your own wrist as you were watching.

And when it was your turn you tried staying focused. The key to this exercise was two-fold. Enough power and consistency, then you could adjust your aim for the next throw.

The first throw hit the edge of the target, so you nudged the next one closer to the centre. And for each kunai, you got slightly closer to the middle, till you almost scored a bullseye with your last one.

"Good job as usual Sota," Iruka commented, as you were the only one apart from Sasuke to manage to hit with all kunai on the target.

So you didn't impress him. Sure, you were competing with other six-year-olds. But they had actually done this before. So you wished you could get acknowledgement for your first attempt.

So next piece of information. Compared to a pre-amnesia Uzumaki Sota, your knowledge was new but your skills were not.

"I'm going to beat you!" Naruto yelled and pointed at you.

Wait… was what happening? He was supposed to be challenging Sasuke not you. Don't screw over the timeline so I cannot predict anything Naruto!

Naruto was quick, but not focused as he threw his five in rapid succession. Not one hit the target nor the tree the target was tied to.

The class responded with mocking laughter while you stayed silent.

You wanted to interfere. But everything turned well in the end, the less you did here the better. Even if you turned into another Sasuke with a vocabulary of just 'hn'.

If you didn't know better you'd be worried about stealing Sasuke's spot in Team 7. But the whole best with the worst talk was just a ploy to get Naruto to accept his fate. Going through the other teams and everyone was either together due to family connections or synergy when it came to tracking. Team 7 was the leftovers. That still left you as the fourth wheel, with no clear place when you all graduated.

As the class had ended, you turned to Iruka to ask him about earlier.

"Why do Naruto hate me?"

"You used to bully him, and told him that he wasn't a real Uzumaki due to his yellow hair. You really hurt his feelings," he explained to you.

"Why would I do that?" You questioned.

"If I understood that, my job would have been much easier. Just be nice to him would you?" He asked.

You gave him a nod.

"Are you Sota," a man with a senbon sticking out of his mouth asked from behind you.

"Yes, you're Genma right?"

"So the rumour is true, you really know everyone's name. Iruka told me that you wanted to learn to make seals, so I'm going to be your teacher."

"Nice, we're starting now?" You asked.

"I was thinking so, follow me and we can find an empty classroom," he said.

-x-

On the desk between you, he put down his bag and withdrew some supplies.

"What do you know about sealing already?"

"You can do all kind of cool things. Make explosions, store items, seal tailed-beast," you said. And why did you mention that last bit? Did your Uzumaki genes remove all your filters?

Better to just note that with every one of your other discoveries. Your behaviour was clearly a mix of yourself and this new body you've gained. And combined with the previous discoveries, you could already draw out a convincing conclusion. You'd always been a prodigy, as even in the ninja world, the brain wasn't there just as decoration. And based on your knowledge about Naruto prodigies, that wouldn't end well for you.

Genma was a professional and wouldn't tell you if he thought you were suspicious or not, he just moved on and gave you the first exercise.

And it couldn't start more boring. He drew a few shapes, characters and some random scribbles and told you to replicate them, starting with the easiest.

But you got the idea, accuracy and calligraphy were important for seals along with replication. And this exercise let him check and measure your abilities.

May your Uzumaki genes save you.

Shapes were easy, as it turned out that your eye to hand coordination was much better here than in real life. Despite its size, your new body was much better than your old one.

Kanji a bit worse, but you knew something about how it all worked and taking your time and do it one line at a time wasn't that bad. Though your muscle memories didn't help you out with these, so these were obviously above your skill level. And you were as good at writing and reading as the old Sota it seemed like.

It made sense, he wouldn't have much interest in seeing you write stuff you already knew, but rather see your process in tackling new problems.

And you did a pretty good job if you were allowed to say so.

His last scribbles were messy. No clear lines, rather loops. Was he going to drop you if you couldn't do this last part?

Better not take the chance.

From the pile of supplies, you picked up a ruler and started making small markings around the different scribbles. But Genma stayed shut and just let you continue on with your plan.

This was a trick you've seen in children activity books ages ago. You had a small picture with a grid overlayed and a bigger grid where you were supposed to copy it in. This divided the bigger problem into smaller more manageable problems.

And from there it was just getting an overview of the overall structure and start copying.

But you were happy enough with the result.

"Did I pass?" You asked.

"This wasn't a test, I just wanted to see where we should begin," Genma stated and added. "I see why some call you next Itachi."

"Don't compare me to him. Besides, he graduated when he was seven. All I did was copy some scribbles," You stated. Even if it was for the greater good, Itachi had still slaughtered his entire clan. So the comparison gave you a chill down your back.

"And Kakashi graduated when he was five, and Itachi is better than him. You're an orphan with no clan to teach you, and there is no pressing conflict to make you graduate early.

"What I'm wanting to say is that the way you approach problems is rare for someone your age. If it isn't perfect it's not good enough, but its not a healthy way of thinking."

"Thanks, can we go back to seals?" you said. No reason to argue with him, people gave six-year-olds too much credit. People wanted to see prodigies, so they attributed any accomplishments to a supposed superior intellect.

"Impatience isn't a good trait for a ninja. But first some ground rules. Until I permit you to do so, you're not to practise any seal on your own. You'll get homework, but any proper seals would be made under my guidance. Is that clear?"

You nodded.

"Good, we'll start with storage seals, practical and easy," he said and picked out one set of brush and ink for both of you, along with stripes of paper and stone pebbles.

You followed his steps. Keep in mind your intent with the seal, then channel your chakra.

You had a problem.

"How do I channel chakra?" You asked

"Shouldn't you already know it? Given that you're the next Itachi," he said.

"Head injury," you said and pointed to your head for emphasis. Though you were unsure if he was joking, as you didn't know the curriculum or that you should actually have learnt it by now.

"Right, this is not exactly my field. At a certain level, you just do it without thinking, so I might be a bit rusty at teaching it. But I want you to meditate and see if you can feel a source of energy within you."

You got into one of the positions you remembered from the anime, close your eyes and empty your thoughts.

Slowly, something began to flare up around the stomach area. You began to tug a bit at it and draw at it, pulling it through your limbs and to your fingers. It was a strange feeling. Kind of like getting contrast agents at the hospital. Just nicer and less of the needing to pee feeling.

"I can feel it and I can pull it through your body," you told Genma.

"Good, but that's just expected of someone like you. Most kids, even Sasuke can't form chakra this age. Too little control, too little chakra to draw on."

"So I knew it already, I had just forgotten like everything else?"

"Yes," Genma replied.

"You're putting too many expectations in me. I'm only six, just because I'm a quick learner now doesn't mean I'll surpass Itachi's growth. Can we just get on with the sealing?"

Couldn't people get in their head that this was how they created mentally unstable ninja? Always pushing on some unachievable expectations on people that they could never live up to.

At least this would probably end after the Uchiha massacre. They wouldn't want you to snap too, and any Itachi references would be quickly retracted.

Genma got the hint for the rest of that session and stopped the small talk.

You quickly manage to seal the pebbles in your seals. Of course you did, as you were an Uzumaki, paraphrasing Genma. You hoped Naruto wouldn't hear such words, as it would just fuel his anger towards you and that was not part of the plan.

"How does it work?" You asked. Learning how to perform them was something. But you wanted the theory behind them, not just the hand-wavy 'it just works', explanation.

"I don't know exactly, I can make them but I don't understand the theory behind it."

"Oh," you replied.

"I'll think we stop there for today if that's okay for you?"

"Yeah," you didn't really have any choice.

"Alright then. Remember, you're not allowed to practise at home. If you want to be my student, you need to be patient as this kind of stuff can be dangerous. Goodbye and we'll see each other at the next lesson," he said.

"Goodbye," you replied and left the academy.

-x-

You wished this world have internet or TV so you had something to do. What would someone like you do? You'd no real homework yet to pour-over.

Best you could do was to explore the village. And it wasn't that interesting when you got another look at it. As the clan hideout, or compounds as they called it was off-limits.

If there was one thing this village had a lot of, it was trees.

Which meant a perfect opportunity for trying out tree-walking.

That would be a project for the coming weeks. Even if it would take you a month now. You'd get it fifty percentage earlier in life than if you learnt it at a random mission to wave.

You still had a kunai on you, so you could mark your progress up the tree. Why did they give six-year-olds these to bring home anyway? Or had you accidentally taken it with you back home from the academy without permission. It didn't matter, you weren't going to go back and hand it back if that was the case.

You didn't need any Sakura to provide you with handy exposition or a lazy teacher not teaching. All you needed to do was to put your foot towards the tree and feel for it.

Too much chakra and you'd be pushed off, and too little chakra and you didn't get traction.

How to make sense of this?

Too much chakra and you destroyed the tree. So you should really pick something more solid. The Hokage tower seemed sturdy, but you'd get in a lot of problems if you ended up blowing holes in it. Besides, the ninja keeping guard wouldn't just let you casually walk up and down all day.

So it had to be the tree.

You had a plan. You put your foot on the tree trunk and channelled as much chakra as you could until it exploded.

Alright, now you had a baseline. Now you just had to stay below that try to keep a constant chakra output.

You found a new tree and put your foot back on the truck. You started channel chakra into it and found a nice sweet spot for your chakra usage, but then it just blew up on you for no good reason.

"Why tree? Why did you blow up?" You asked the tree.

The tree being a tree, refused to answer.

You sighed and tried again this time with less chakra, but with the same result and another damaged tree trunk.

And you kept on trying this until you finally managed to succeed, only to realize that you could no longer stick to the tree.

So that plan failed spectacularly.

It wasn't the only thing you did wrong you realized. When walking up trees, you wouldn't keep your grip constant, you would turn it on and off. Perhaps forgetting about cheating the system and just do it the normal way would help?

That meant actually gaining height. and heights weren't your favourite. You could hope that this kid you stole the body from was braver than you.

The faster you ran up, the less you needed to stick at the time. This was the exact opposite of your first plan. You wanted a controlled slow pace, not running up like a madman.

At least the ground was soft enough, you hoped.

And ninja was sturdy, and even if you fell down badly, you'd be just hospitalised and then you'd be fine. Getting hurt was part of the job, better get used to it earlier than later.

You took a deep breath and prepared for your first real attempt.

Step up and that was it. But your timing was off and you applied chakra before you even made contact with your other foot. Thus repelling away the trunk instead, flipping you over so you landed with your butt up on the ground.

This was going to be a long month.

And after several hours, all you had to show for was two steps and your stomach was rumbling. The sky had also gotten a lot darker.

You didn't feel like cooking. You were tired and your body hurt.

Though you should have some pocket money. Another bowl of ramen would taste nice.

So you walked towards Teuchi's stand trying to remember the way, and it was surprisingly easy. You blamed your Uzumaki genes trying to lead you to there.

When you got there, you were the only customer. Probably not the most popular time at day for ramen. But you weren't there for the company but rather to eat. You ordered a simple bowl of ramen and started wondering about your life a bit more.

What had really happened to you? And would it really matter? Trying to escape this place seemed fruitless, you were better off just making the best of it. And if you could keep stuff up, maybe you could be someone of importance in this world. Or you just ended up dead.

Before your pessimism could take overhand, Teuchi served you a bowl of hot steaming ramen.

Food tasted so good when you were exhausted, but it was perhaps not a good idea to train on an empty stomach every day.

"Hey old man!" A childish voice shouting behind you, Naruto. But he stopped when he saw the red mop of your hair. As you turned your head towards him, he was already running away.

You really needed to apologize to him tomorrow.

-x-

Iruka's class was soon over, and you prepared to steel your nerves.

He's just a six-year-old you told to yourself. But your brain did its effort to make you nervous. You were still human, and your human brain currently cared about what your classmates thought about you, even if neither you nor the previous you would admit it.

The moment your teacher called off the class you stepped up to Naruto's desk.

"Hi, I just want to apologize for what I've done. I don't remember anything, got my head hit hard," you said and pointed to said head for emphasis. "But I regret bullying you and you are a real Uzumaki, your yellow hair doesn't matter."

A light began to shine within Naruto it looked like.

"Does that mean you'll be my friend?" He asked, with way too much hope in his voice.

"No," you said. "I don't need friends."

In a way to say it's not you, it's me. But it was both. Both the age difference, not tampering with his character development, and the fact that you had widely different interest. He liked pranking people and you liked browsing the internet mindlessly all day.

"But we're family, both Uzumaki," he cried out. Getting the attention of your other classmates.

But it didn't worry you that much. That they would think about you as stone-cold would just make things easier for you.

You just walked away and out in the fresh air. You had apologized, Naruto couldn't expect more. And why he wanted to be friends with his previous bully was beyond you. He needed to see past the blood and rather form friendships on a meaningful basis. Neji and Hinata was a perfect example of how people didn't get along just because they were close relatives. And you had no idea how closely related you and Naruto was. And if you were closely related, someone would probably have told you two.

At the end of the day, it was practical ninja training as usual. And your first spar.

You had no idea how to fight. So you hoped your instincts would help you out here. From what everyone had told you, you should win this. Even if you were against Sasuke.

You weren't exactly sure what the common greetings were in before the spar. All you could remember about that part was Naruto ignoring it. But you just copied Sasuke and stayed happy with that.

The spar itself was the art of 'My body just moved of itself'. And ended with a grumpy Sasuke on the ground with you victorious.

You should find a way to practise sparring so you could actually consciously do it and not just move. But you had years of sparring practise in front of you. And by time, the teachers would probably teach you new moves and techniques.

Now it seemed like getting students used to fighting was the priorities for the teachers. Not exactly how most schools handled things, but you were ninja.

You didn't care much for the other fights. It was kind of pathetic, and your fight was probably the same too. But you were a bunch of children, the skill levels wouldn't be that high anyway. In a year or two, even the worst of you would be better than the strongest now.

After that, it was more lessons with Genma.

"Today we're going be sealing bigger stuff," he explained.

"What's the difference?" You asked trying to learn something and not just monkey see, monkey do.

"You require more chakra or more advanced seals if you want to store bigger more massive items."

That made sense. 'Why though?' was your question. Why couldn't you get a proper indebt explanation and not just an oversimplification for children?

"I heard your apology to Naruto didn't go so well, what happened?" He asked you.

Couldn't he just focus on the lesson?

"Nothing went wrong, he seemed to forgive me. That he wants to be my friend is not my problem," you replied.

"Don't you feel you need friends?" he asked.

"No," you grunted and starring him directly in the eyes. Hoping he would end this.

"Is anything bothering you?" He asked.

"There is a jounin that keeps on bothering me," you grunted even harder.

He looked a bit upset. Couldn't he just stop being a caring teacher and just teach. It was almost like he was keeping tabs on you. Though why would he do that? No, he was just nosy.

In the end, it was another easy lesson and you successfully managed to both seal and unseal the blunt kunai he had brought with him.

-x-

Then you had another date with that damn tree.

Life was going to get quite repetitive from here. You really needed a friend, but the only other person in your situation was Yagura, and you couldn't imagine you two being friends anytime soon.

And just because you were both adults trapped in a child's body didn't mean you had anything else in common. And you would grow up one day, he wouldn't.

You kind of wanted to save him somehow. He was not vital for the canon plotline to continue, so fair game and he'd be a valuable ally. The 4th war would probably need to happen to unite the five villages against a common enemy. But that could be done even if Obito never managed to collect all nine Jinchuuriki.

Obito should try Isekai himself into Pokemon, then he could catch monsters all day and no one would blame him for "Gonna Catch 'em All".

Days became weeks and weeks became a month.

And all the effort culminated in you running up the tree trunk with no issue. And as you were standing on top of the tall tree looking over the village you felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. But anyone else would just say it was just what they expected from a prodigy like you.

Genma had also promised you to start teaching you explosive seals tomorrow. It went too slow with him. But he had insisted on seeing you complete more copying exercises along with ensuring your storage seals was flawless before he let you near something more dangerous. It didn't help that he still refused to let you practise seals on your own. But at least you were allowed to do calligraphy, and you'd gotten surprisingly good at replicating all the symbols Genma had given you and you were becoming faster and faster.

The chore of each day began to be somewhat comforting, and seeing your improved skills made you happy. And you were just one month in. Still, calling you a prodigy was nothing more than an empty attempt to bloat your ego and bring everyone else down.

"Good work," came a voice from below.

Looking down you saw a familiar face with a comforting smile. A bit shorter hair than you were used to, but still unmistakably Itachi.

You didn't know how you feel about him. It was just two years till he'd kill his entire clan and leave his brother broken.

"Thanks," you replied. Itachi would probably understand you better, given his prodigy label. Though unlike yours, his reputation was actually deserved.

He leapt up the tree trunk beside you and it wasn't until now you saw him carrying two sticks of Dango, he handed one of them to you.

"Thanks, Itachi," you replied. "I'm starving."

"You're Sota, right. Do Sasuke talk about me?" he asked.

"We don't talk to each other" you stated.

"I'm surprised, he complains about you a lot."

"Oh," you said, taken by surprise.

"He tells me that you're beating him in everything," Itachi said.

"I'm just doing my best, I'm not trying to beat anyone," you said. Competing against young kids gave you no pleasure. Why did you have to start this young, rather than at a time where you could feel you belong more. Six years later would probably be nicer, you would still be an adult in a child's body, just a bit older child. Add to that fewer worries to worry about and fewer chances to mess things up.

Next to you was the catalyst for many future events. But you couldn't see the killer you associated with him. Only an adorable Itachi trying to make friends with you.

It was a friendship that could only last two years.

You gave him your smile. No reason to push away this one. He could probably give you some advice for the future too.

"Let us spar," he stated abruptly.

"Up here?" You questioned. It was a bit of a fall, but Itachi wouldn't have asked is it was dangerous.

He nodded and grinned towards you.

You didn't remember this part from Kakashi's tree walking exercise. But you took the challenge and let your body move you into a fighting stance and kept the focus on your grip.

But it didn't last long. And you didn't get a hit in, because the first thing Itachi did was to break off the branch you were standing on by pushing chakra to his feet till it broke.

Which meant you were now falling perhaps 10 meters down which would last you 1.4 seconds before you hit the ground.

And it didn't help that you were falling back first. There was no time to think only do. Turn around and brace yourself.

He would for sure step in in the last second to catch you. But if not, there was only one thing you could think about. Push as much chakra through your limbs and hope to dampen the fall.

It didn't help much. As you landed you tried to push off the ground with your arm, but it did nothing, and a crushing sound filled your ears along with immense pain in your arm. Along with the rest of your body.

It was first now that Itachi came to the rescue and pressed his hand against your head. One thing you were certain of was that you were grateful for how simple pain medication was in this world.

Though it wasn't getting rid of all pain, it did turn it from unbearable to manageable.

"Did you try to kill me?!" You raged at him.

"My Jounin-sensei did the same thing towards me when I first successfully managed to walk up a tree. And I was a bit worse off than just a broken arm and a sprained leg. Father was furious about it. But it's a good lesson in acting quickly in a tense situation, and to never fight on unsafe ground," Itachi explained and picked you up.

"I guess I'm going to thank you then Itachi-senpai. And since I'm an orphan you don't have to worry about my parents," you said and smiled at him.

He wasn't trying to harm you, just make you grow and impart the lesson onto you that was imparted onto him. It was a bit extreme but well-meaning.

As he was carrying you to the hospital, it was clear to you that you had made your first friend here. And perhaps you should nudge Itachi away from the path he was fated to follow.

After staying a night at the hospital you discovered why Naruto hated hospitals. Life in this world was boring enough, and there was even less to do here while bedridden.

But not long after waking up, you heard the voice of Itachi greeting you with a "Good morning."

"Morning," you replied and smiled at him.

He had with him another two sticks of dango and handed you one of them. You were glad you had one working hand so he didn't have to feed you. You could easily imagine Sasuke taking revenge on you for that one alone.

What was it about you that made Itachi want to make friends with you? It made little sense. He could be spending his valuable time with Sasuke instead of being here.

But it would be stupid and embarrassing to just ask him directly. And it would just push him away.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Much better. You know, be careful about giving me dango when visiting me, I might just get hurt on purpose to get more of it for free."

You could see a smile forming on Itachi's face.

"So when will they let you out?" He asked.

"In the evening, so I won't be stuck here for long. But I still have to wear a sling for some days."

"Injuries is some of the worst parts of being a ninja, you start to feel useless. We get praised for our ability as a ninja, so if you can no longer perform your duty, you stop valuing yourself," he said.

"I didn't see it like that, I'm sorry."

"There is no virtue in that way of thinking. Don't try to be the ideal ninja Sota, be you."

"I'll try."

"And I'll be here making sure both you and Sasuke succeed."

"Thanks. I just wish I could go back to learning fuuinjutsu. But it's just a waste of Genma's time to have lessons with me in this state. Can't medical jutsu help heal stuff faster?" You asked

"You would think so, but while it can help to fix your physical damages, it makes healing the chakra network slower. So if you can heal normally, you recover quicker. But sometimes you cannot afford to wait."

"Oh, makes sense," you said.

"Do you look forward to being back at the academy then?"

"No one would notice I was even gone," you said.

"You sure about it?"

-x-

Next day it was time to go back to the Academy.

"Welcome back Sota, I'm glad to see you back already, we've all been worried about you," Iruka greeted you

Though looking at the class everyone was busy with something else and not one eye on you and your broken arm.

"Thanks," you said and sat down at your desk as usual.

If it was Sasuke all the girls would have been going up to you all worried. You were glad you weren't Sasuke.

As you took to writing down answers in your workbook you noticed how horrible your handwriting was with your left hand. Its was definitely something you wanted to practise. Becoming a seal master who could only write with one hand was a stupid idea. You'd be useless if someone were to chop off your right hand. You could easily imagine being in Deidara's shoes and getting your hand teleported away, though it wasn't like you had any plans joining Akatsuki. Now that you thought about it, making seals with your feet could be a nice trick. But it would probably never be useful.

After you were done with your Maths and Japanese classes, it was time for sparring.

You watched as the others fought. They seemed to get a bit better now that you had observed a month of progress. It was Kiba against Sasuke today, Wild vs controlled. A tense battle between the two, ending up with a victorious Sasuke and a fuming Kiba.

But when Iruka called up you and Naruto at the end, it was him that objected first.

"Why do I have to fight him," Naruto complained. "He's injured, I might hurt him. So isn't it a bit unfair?"

Iruka tried to explain. "Sometimes as a ninja, you have to fight even if you have an injury. But since I don't want anyone to get hurt. Don't target his arm, okay Naruto?"

Naruto nodded and turned to you. "Sorry for kicking your ass."

His eyes were hopeful. Getting the chance to beat the top student. And it really looked like he thought he had a chance

You could taunt him with You've not beaten me yet, but what was the point? And you'd just look foolish if you actually lost.

He did the usual greeting, and you to the best of your abilities.

He then charged at you with vigour, but it didn't help much as you easily dodged him as he lacked discipline. He'd probably be more terrifying with some proper guidance, but that wouldn't happen before Jiraiya helped him out.

"Stay still so I can hit you," he yelled at you.

You ignored his taunts and just kept your focus on him. And next time he charged at you, you grabbed the back of his shirt and throw him to the ground using his own forward momentum to help you out.

It didn't talk long before he was on the ground.

It was just the result everyone expected. Not even against an injured opponent did anyone believe in the boy.

But unlike Itachi, everything would turn out right with Naruto. So still no reason to intervene.

-x-

There was no Genma today either, you started to miss the guy. Even if his questioning was annoying. People tended to dig into your life too much.

Your arm felt fine already. You just wanted to rip off the sling and start using your body again.

Though before you could go against medical advice. Itachi was there along with Sasuke.

"Hi, Sota. Mother wanted me to invite you to dinner as an apology for what happened," Itachi said.

Sasuke mumbled something to Itachi that you couldn't hear, and you couldn't hear what Itachi said either. He didn't look very happy.

"You know, you don't need to apologize," you replied back.

"It will make her happy," Itachi said.

-x-

And that's how you were now on the dinner table of the Uchiha patriarch.

Sasuke was glaring at you, Fugaku too. Mikoto was smiling as she put the food on the table. And you were sure Itachi had realized the same as you, this was a horrible idea.

"So how you did you two become friends," Mikoto asked to break the ice.

"I saw him trying to run up a tree day after day, so since he was alone, I figured out I'd be there to congratulate him when he mastered it," Itachi explained.

It was too early to call yourself friends at the moment, but if it made his mother happy to hear you wouldn't stop Itachi describing you as friends.

"Then you had him fall from the tree, doesn't look like he handled it well," Fugaku said and looked at your sling.

"Fugaku," Mikoto scolded him.

"Father, I was in the hospital for much longer and I was older," Itachi stated.

"Can you teach me tree-walking too?" Sasuke asked Itachi before going back to glaring at you.

"You're not ready Sasuke, I'll do it when you're stronger," he replied.

"Itachi," Fugaku signalled. The message was clear, teach him.

"He is not ready yet," Itachi repeated.

"Why don't you two try tomorrow, and if Sasuke makes no progress. You can try again next year," Mikoto said trying to turn down the tension.

"Alright, I'll train you tomorrow Sasuke," Itachi said and smiled to his younger brother.

"He won't be there right?" Sasuke asked.

"You're classmates, shouldn't you try to be friends?" Mikoto asked both of you.

"He always beats my ass and thinks he's better than everyone," Sasuke argued.

"He doesn't want to be my friend, so why would I?" You answered. Why spend time on someone that didn't want you there?

"I'm sure you'll warm up to each other one day," Itachi suggested.

"Maybe," you replied.

Sasuke however. "Never".

He was a lost cause, you didn't understand how Naruto could stand his stubbornness.

-x-

Today's lesson with Genma was going great. You had your first explosive seal in your hand. It was fairly weak, as that was all you were allowed at the moment. But it was the first step into seals with combat potential.

Genma was tying the seal to a string hanging down from the ceiling and backed off a bit from it.

"You can activate it now."

You used your fingers to channel a bit of chakra into it to get it burning. And after what felt like an eternity, it exploded.

POOF!

It was like something sparked inside you too and you felt the excitement rising within you.

"Good work, just as expected as always."

Whatever you did, it was nothing more than what people expect from you. If you were Naruto and he was Iruka. He'd take you out for ramen to celebrate. But you being good at something was the same as the sky is blue. Nothing to celebrate.

"Make five more," Genma continued.

It wasn't that hard. But it took you about 10 minutes as Genma would scold you if you rushed it.

Genma took a look at your work. "It's looking good, let me hang them up for you."

One after another about 10-20 cm away from each other.

"Now I want you to activate all of them remotely, in the order that I say.

You focus on the one you want to target, form a snake seal and channel chakra through it. Keep your focus on it till it activates."

You could do this, you folded your hand into a snake and prepared for the signal.

"Four," Genma called out.

"Five"

"One"

"Three"

"Two."

One after another they went off in the order he wanted.

"Can I do this with storage seals too?" You asked.

"Not without modifying the seal I think," he answered.

"How do I do that?" You asked.

"I'm not an expert on this, sorry kid. But there is some modification I can teach you now. Normal storage seals let everyone open it, but with some changes, you can make it so only you can activate it."

"Great, let us start," you cheered on.

"Next time kid," Genma said and tousled your hair. "Fuuinjutsu isn't something you rush, and you've shown great progress today too. I'll be looking into getting a more advanced teacher for you, as you've soon exhausted everything I can teach you."

"Oh, I guess I'll become your senpai soon then," You said, unable to act like a bratty kid for a moment.

"When you've mastered a lot more sealing, I'll call you senpai, once. Deal?" He joked back with you.

-x-

There was nothing else to do today other than training. So after tree walking the choice was obvious. You just needed some water. And using the hot springs didn't tempt you at all.

Walking around the village gave you nothing.

"Hi Sota, what are you doing?" Itachi greeted you.

"Hi Itachi, I was looking for somewhere to practise water walking." You explained.

"Oh, there is a small lake inside our clan compound you can use. With your progress, you'll beat me to becoming the youngest post-war graduate. Sure you don't want to slow down a bit?" Itachi asked. He was obviously worried for you and he would know that graduating early wasn't good for a child's mind. But you were no real kid.

"I see no point in waiting, learning is fun, and I barely learn anything at the academy. You're just afraid I'll beat your record." You teased him with that last bit.

"I was wondering if you wanted a round of sparring? I have a useful exercise I'll want to show you. It will probably be useful for walking on water too." Itachi asked.

"As long as it won't end with me with a broken arm," you replied.

"Don't worry."

-x-

You were standing in their family Dojo waiting for Itachi to grab some stuff. Though he was soon back.

"A rope?" you questioned. "What's that for?"

Itachi didn't reply, just got behind you and tied your wrist together.

"Hey!" You called out, but he didn't stop. Both of you were currently too young for ropeplay, so you hope he didn't have that in mind.

"What would happen if you got attacked while your arms were injured?" He asked.

"I…"

"You'd lose," he said.

"I could just run away, why would I fight?" You asked.

"What if you were a Jounin-sensei with three Genin with you?" He asked.

"I would have to fight them with my legs only?" You suggested.

"Exactly, and it will help you with balance. Let's start," Itachi signalled.

Your move-set was shallow. Duck, kick, wait and move around.

Right away Itachi's charged at you ready to strike. Your instinct told you to duck and that did avoid the hit. But Itachi followed up with grappling your body and throw you into the ground back first.

He was not joking around.

You rolled around so you could get on your knees and get up, but as you did it, Itachi kicked you down again.

"Your enemy won't be nice to you and let you get up. If they want you alive, they'd tie the rest of you up leaving you with no chance of escaping," Itachi explained.

"How often does that happen?"

"Depends really, many missing-nin would be trying to get some money out of you by trading you back with the village. And in case of war, take you as a prisoner to trade when the war is over or try to extract information out of you.."

"Doesn't sound that reassuring," you replied. Extract information was a nice euphemism

So you needed to attack and get up in one move…

Wait, you forgot two things, two forgotten moves.

You rolled away from Itachi towards the wall and then running up. He didn't approach you, just let you jump down and land on your feet again.

"Smart thinking," he replied.

"Did your sensei do the same towards you?" You asked.

"Kind of, instead of tying my hands, he blindfolded me. Your hands will probably be your strongest weapon, but as an Uchiha, denying me of the sight would cause me the most problems.

"Did you win?" You asked.

"No, and he kept me going till I couldn't stand. So we're going to do the same," he said and charged at you again.

You tried dodging him but he quickly turned around and hit you with a well-placed kick.

This just kept on going for hours. You wanted to try Itachi-walking, but he moved too fast for you. Another idea was trying to grab his hand while he was blocking your kick, but he just used chakra to push you away.

Until you couldn't manage it anymore and just lay there on the ground till Itachi spoke up.

"Tired?"

"No, I feel I can go on all day." It was true, but, "it's just that whatever I do, nothing works."

"Sasuke feels the same fighting you," Itachi said. Not sure what he wanted you to do with that information.

"I started training before you were born, it would be strange if I couldn't counter everything you could come up within a few hours."

"You're right. Why are you training me and not Sasuke?" You asked. From what you remember it seemed like Sasuke and Itachi didn't spend as much time as Sasuke would have wanted.

"I'm training him right now, he's mostly sparring against you in the academy, so if you're stronger he'll get tougher opposition," Itachi explained.

Did make some sense, but not much. Wouldn't it be better to just train Sasuke directly?

"I see myself in you. Though unlike me, there is no clan pressuring you. So why do this, are you ready for what will happen after graduation? Life will change a lot."

"All I do is training, and by time, I'll just drift further and further away from my classmates. So why stay in the academy?"

"You don't need to train all the time, you're still a kid, no one will call you out for taking life slower," Itachi said.

You were not really a kid and you didn't want to stay in a class with young children you could never connect to.

"I'm sure, the earlier the better," you said.

"Then I'll help you," Itachi said.

"Why?" You asked.

"I shouldn't say this. But I don't really want you in Sasuke's class. Father is expecting him to be the top student, and he'll never feel good about himself till then. But that won't happen till you graduate," he said.

"Then let's go for it," you said.

"Hi Itachi its soon dinner," Mikoto said from the door before noticing you on the floor. "Oh hi Sota, you want to eat with us today?"

"I don't think Sasuke will like it," you replied.

"Don't worry about Sasuke, he'll just have to accept that Itachi has guests over."

"Then I accept your offer. It's nice of you," you replied.

"Now untie him Itachi, and take a shower boys. You smell," Mikoto said and left you.

"Are you sore?" Itachi asked as he untied your wrists.

"A bit, but it's okay," you said.

Itachi took a closer look at your wrist. "I shouldn't have kept you like this for this long. Now let's go and get clean."

-x-

The feeling of warm water flowing down your body was always nice after a long exercise session.

As you dried yourself dry with a quite large bath towel. You just realized something.

"I've nothing clean to change into here," you told Itachi.

"That's fine, we've something you can borrow. As long as you don't mind the Uchiha emblem on your clothes."

"That's fine," you replied.

Someone from another clan might have declined and gone home for a change of clothes, but clan politics didn't bother you. The Uzumaki was practically gone. And the clothes were much softer and nicer than your own. Too bad you couldn't run away with them, as it would be quite obvious that you'd stolen them.

The smell of Mikoto's cooking was wonderful. Maybe you should marry Itachi just for the family dinners. Just wait some years and he'd be old enough for you, and you old enough for him.

But they'd be dead in two years if you couldn't think of something to do. Smarter than people than you had tried but failed. And uncareful meddling could put the village in the middle of a civil war.

And today as the other time. Sasuke was glaring at you with the dinner table. Fugaku was being friendlier today, as much as a man with a constant frown could.

Itachi began telling the rest about your training and Sasuke just glared harder at you.

"Why are you training him and not me?" Sasuke called out.

"Sasuke…" Itachi said.

"Do better in the academy and he'll teach you," Fugaku interrupted.

"You said you were going to train me today but we barely did anything," Sasuke said.

"You don't have enough chakra yet Sasuke, there was nothing I could do to help you with the exercise," Itachi explained.

Itachi was right, you should hurry up and graduate. You should let Sasuke go back to being the boy he was in canon. Top of his class that everyone admired, without you there to feed his inferiority complex along with his father reinforcing it.

"I can train with you later if you help me with the dishes Sasuke," Mikoto offered.

"But I want to train with nii-san, but that bastard is stealing him from me," Sasuke complained and pointed at you.

"Sasuke, be nice," Mikoto told him.

"It's not fair," he complained again.

"So you don't want to train with me?" Mikoto asked.

"Help me beat that asshole mom," Sasuke said.

"Language Sasuke," she replied.

-x-

You and Itachi were back outside a bit away from his home. Better get some distance from small angry Sasuke.

And you were currently overseeing the lake Itachi was talking about.

"I'm going on a mission tomorrow, so I'm going to be gone for a bit. So what do you want to do, water-walking or starting on the jutsu you need for graduation."

"I can learn water-walking later, I'll start with the jutsu."

"You know what they are?"

"Replacement, henge and clone," you said.

"Good, we'll start with the henge, it's the easiest."

After a few hours of practice. You realized that easiest didn't mean easy. It was still hard. But you had some time practising in the week Itachi was gone and hopefully, you could show him some progress when he was back.

It was time to go come. And by 'go home' you meant to run as your short legs made walking take forever.

It was a miracle that you didn't run into someone on the way home. But you did it. You grabbed a piece of bread and laid down on your bed taking eating bits of it and it didn't take long before you drifted to sleep.

-x-

You missed Itachi already, it had only been a few days and you wanted some company back. And Genma was done with his final lesson. This wasn't a new problem for you, in your old life you struggled hard with friends too. And then your classmates had been around your age mentally too. Sasuke was probably just saying what the rest of the class was thinking.

You wished you could just lie down on your desk forever. Things would probably get better once you'd become genin. But what if they didn't?

You just tuned out everything around and didn't hear someone talk to you.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to help an old woman with her cat."

You didn't notice anything before you felt two fingers on your neck. You turned around to see a quite recognizable cyclops. One that was a lot friendlier than Danzo.

"I just needed to check if you were dead," Kakashi said. "Follow me outside."

You got up, at least learning stuff could get your minds on other stuff.

"So what do you want to learn?" Kakashi asked.

You didn't exactly know.

"Do you have any ideas?" You asked him.

"Think about it," Kakashi replied and started reading his book.

Great, still a shitty teacher who didn't really want to teach.

You lied down on the ground and closed your eyes.

How were you supposed to know? You had the advantage of knowing things you shouldn't know. But the kid whos the body you occupied would be a lot more clueless.

What was the most terrifying attack?

There was quite a few, but if you were to develop a defence against it, it would be something that could hit you and not kill you for a while, while still giving you no real option to stop it. And there was one Jjsu that fit that description perfectly.

Amaterasu

"I want to be able to seal away nearby fires," you said. As you were pretty sure you could remember something like that from canon.

"Alright, I know that one. It is quite useful for extinguishing house fires. And automatic versions have stopped many Kage from setting fire to their paperwork."

Kakashi preceded as Genma often did and drew it out while you were watching. Though unlike Genma, he gave you no other advice, just asked you to replicate it while he went back to his book.

But you didn't bother arguing with him, as it didn't seem he wanted to be here.

As you copied parts for parts. Your head just nudged you in different directions, where to apply chakra, what to focus on etc.

"Done," you called out as you were done.

He looked at it for a second before talking. "Alright, let us test it. Stand over there," he pointed.

Kakashi stepped to a point perhaps ten meters away.

"To activate it, channel chakra through it as the fire is getting close," he explained.

"What fire?" You asked.

Before you could get an answer, he had sent a fireball heading straight at you.

You took a heavy breath and held it. Praying that it would work. When it was perhaps two meters away you could feel the heat getting uncomfortable and decided it was close enough and channelled chakra through the seal.

It got smaller like being sucked up by a black hole, you could breathe out again. And in the seal, you could see a red spot inside the previously blank circle.

"You knuckleheaded idiot!" Kakashi yelled at you.

"What?" you exclaimed.

"You didn't test it, I barely gave you any instructions on how to make it. What made you think it was safe to use?" Kakashi asked with a stern voice.

"You told me to do it," you said trying to defend yourself. "What did you expect would happen?"

"That you would get hit, then I'd patch you up and hand you over to the hospital. And then I would tell the Hokage you were not ready yet and make you someone else's problem," Kakashi said.

You didn't know how to react.

"Why do you hate me?" you said.

Before falling onto your knees and started to sob. You didn't want to, you wanted to be strong. You weren't a crying weak child, so why? This along with not seeing Itachi for a few days just made everything spill over for you.

As your body started to feel weird you rolled over to the side to lie down.

"I'm a sorry kid, I don't hate you. I just don't want to do this. I don't like children and I'm not suited for teaching. Go home and get some rest, we'll continue tomorrow," he said and walked away.

You didn't want to move. And there was no one to go home to. So you could just as well stay on the ground. You didn't even belong in this world. And you were still too stupid for the reality of this world to dawn on you. Why wouldn't you just go home?

Keeping the negativity at bay at this point was impossible. And your head started to hurt and your body was aching.

You didn't know how long you'd lied down on the ground when you heard a faint voice speaking to you.

"Is everything okay?" An unknown voice asked you. You turned around to try to locate them. But everything was a dark blur, you couldn't make out anything around you and you weren't even sure where you were at the moment.

"Who are you?" you mumbled and clutched your own head. Your own voice made everything hurt more.

"Shisui, I'm a friend of Itachi, he's mentioned you."

You clutched your eyes in pain.

"How are you feeling?" he asked you.

"My head hurt when you're talking," you replied with a weak voice.

"Can I carry you home to me so I can give you something to drink and eat?" He whispered.

You nodded before he picked you up in your arms.

-x-

Shisui set you down on a soft mat next to his table. Before getting a glass of water for you you.

You were not strong enough to sit up, but he was nice enough to set the glass on the floor and guided a straw into your mouth so you could drink.

You didn't manage to drink much. Water wasn't very good when you were nauseated like this and your head was hammering.

The sound of boiling water just hurt you even more.

It just kept on as a hurtful white noise as you twist and trashes around on your mat while grasping to your head.

The boiling water eventually slowed down to a halt and made you feel much calmer.

You could see him put something on the table through your blurry eyes.

"What's wrong, kid?" he said as he sat down beside you and stroke your hair.

"I'm lonely," you said with slurred words.

"Just wait a bit for the tea to cool down and try drinking some more water."

You tried taking some more sips but it was just awful.

It was hard to keep track of time, but soon the tea was cold enough for you to drink.

Shisui helped you sit up by supporting your back with his hand and put the cup up to your mouth. You were kind of shivering at this point.

"Try small sips, its good for you," he said.

It felt quite nice in your mouth, and as you swallowed more and more things started to feel better. It was perhaps half empty when you feel strong enough to hold the cup with your own fingers.

"Thanks," you mumbled back.

"I'm not good enough at medical jutsu, so I've to do other ways," he said.

As you empty the cup, you were much better. But still didn't feel completely okay. And before you could put it on the table, Shusui grabbed it from your hand and went to refill it.

"So what are you doing for fun?" Shisui asked as he handed you your cup.

"I hang out with Itachi," you replied before grabbing the cup and started sipping.

"And what you do together?" He asked.

"We tend to spar and he's helping me prepare for graduation."

"Apart from that, to relax or just have fun?" He asked.

"All I do is to tend the academy, fuuinjutsu lessons, training, eating and sleeping."

"You should take it slower. You're even worse than Itachi was at this age. You're not supposed to burn out before you even graduate" Shisui said.

"I've nothing else do to. So training is a nice way to pass time."

"Play with friends, get a hobby. Normal things kids your age do?"

"Itachi isn't playing around all day. And sealing is a nice hobby."

"Something that isn't ninja related perhaps? You don't know what Itachi is doing when he's alone. And Sasuke still plays with his plush dinosaur," Shisui said.

"I'm not Itachi or Sasuke," you replied.

"So why are you acting like…" Shisui stopped himself. "I'm just trying to stop you from doing something stupid."

"Itachi believes in me," you argued.

"Itachi is a stupid kid too," he said while moving towards his fridge.

"Aren't you two friends?" You asked.

"That's why I'm calling him stupid, I know him," Shisui said and brought out two sticks of dango and handed you one of them. "He also told me you loved these."

Naruto had his ramen, and you'd got officially addicted to these balls of goodliness.

Shisui was another tragic case, and you started to feel bad for him. Picturing the smiling man beside you getting his eyes ripped out made you shudder.

You couldn't save everyone, but you could try doing something here too. Saving his entire clan seemed impossible. But adding an extra surviving Uchiha should be feasible.

"So what happened earlier today?"

"Kakashi," you replied in between your bites from the dango. "He's helping me get better at seals. But he's not a very good teacher."

Shisui raised a questioning eyebrow, prompting you to tell the whole story.

After you were done, Shisui was left to ponder about it for a moment.

"He's what happens when you push a kid like you through war too early. Do you plan on trying to find someone else instead?" He finally asked.

You shook your head. "He's the only thing I've got at the moment. I'm just lucky they have bothered with finding anyone to teach me as I'm no one special."

"You're an Uzumaki, that makes you special. An Uzumaki who's proficient enough at sealing could make Madara piss his pants."

"Naruto is an Uzumaki too, and no one bothers to teach him anything. And he's actually special," you said.

Shisui looked at you a bit confused.

"I know about his furry little problem," you explained.

"I hope you know that you're not supposed to tell anyone right, not even Naruto himself?" He asked you.

"I know."

"Then you know that his furry little problem isn't helping him any. People don't want to help him as they see him as the fox," he explained.

"It just doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't you ensure your only Jinchuuriki would get all the help they needed?" You asked.

"You'll quickly learn that the world doesn't make much sense."

Why couldn't the world make sense? You sighed in frustration.

"Do you want to stay over for the night?" He asked you.

You shook your head. "I need to get some more training today."

"It's night outside, you should not be out training. You don't need to stay here, but you should be resting some more" he said.

"And if I don't?" You questioned.

"Then I'll show you how I got my reputation within genjutsu," Shisui threatened you with a smirk.

"I'll just stay here then, nothing to do at home."

"If I can borrow your keys, I can go back and get the stuff you need."

"I don't want to be an even bigger bother," you said.

"I'm the fastest Uchiha, you won't even notice I'm gone," he said.

You threw him the keys and he caught them with a smile. There was no point protesting with him. Why was everyone so nice with you, what did they really want?

While you were waiting for him to come back you noticed another furry fellow. An adorable black and white cat jumped onto your lap, wanting to get petted.

There was no way you could say no to them, so you started to stroke them and let them play with your hand.

"I see you've meet Sasuke," Shisui said as he appeared in front of you with some of your stuff under his arm.

"You named him Sasuke?" You questioned with a raised brow.

"Itachi liked him a lot as a kitten, so I decided to name him of another thing Itachi loved," he explained.

"He's much cuter than the original, Sasuke just glares at me whenever he sees me."

"Itachi's brother is a bit like a cat sometimes. Are you tired? "

"No, I've been out for most of the day, so I'm not able to sleep now."

"Then I'll stay up with you. How about we play some cards, do you know how to play Shogun?" He asked.

"Could you teach me?" You asked.

It was a mix of Bluff and some deck-building game. The card was quite interesting. The leaf on one side wasn't so spectacular, but the picture card was more unconventional. Hiruzen as the Ace, with the Sannin as the King, Queen and Jack. It would have to be a few years old for Orochimaru to be present after everything he did. Better handle them with care.

After a few hours, you began to get really tired.

A big Nyaaawn came from your mouth against your will and you quickly covered your mouth to avoid any other accidents.

"Don't be ashamed of that, you're allowed to be cute," he said.

"I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed. I'm not a cat," you replied.

It was nice to relax a bit. But you were also falling behind on training. So no breaks tomorrow. You just had to carry through.

As you were brushing your teeth, the flowing water reminded you of something. Waterwalking. It was something you'd put on the delay with Itachi.

"Shisui, do you think you can help me with something tomorrow?" You asked.

"I don't have any missions tomorrow, so I might be able to spare some time, what is it?"

"I want to practice water walking. I was planning to do to it with Itachi, but things happened. And I can't be using the lake here in the compound if I'm by myself."

"You can swim, right?"

"I think so…" you said "... I don't really know, but how hard can it be?"

"I think I should be able to help. I'll tell the guards to let you in tomorrow after you've had your lesson with Kakashi."

"Thanks," you said.

-x-'

Next morning, you felt stronger than ever. You regretfully had to say that Shisui was right about making you rest, he had even let you sleep through the school day.

Kakashi seemed a bit surprised by how much life was in you today compared to yesterday. But he didn't say anything, hence the seemed.

"I hope you've learnt from yesterday, just because everything went well, didn't mean you weren't an idiot," he told you.

"I've learnt. I'm not going to depend on any of my seals untested again," you replied.

"Good, remember that. There might be times where you don't have the choice to test it. But that's not an excuse to neglect it when you can."

"I get it," you replied.

"Now that's out of the way. What do you want to do today?"

"I want to learn how to modify seals to change their behaviour and better learn how they really work," you said.

"I can help you there, so what were you thinking off?" He asked.

"Explosive seals, making them bigger and stronger," you replied.

"I think it's best if I just explain every part of the seal first and then we can move onto changes. Sounds good?"

You nodded.

After a lengthy explanation of every aspect of the seal, supplemented by your brain making mental corrections whenever something in his explanation felt off. You feelt a lot smarter.

The way to modify seals could simply be boiled down to either adjusting the size of the entire seal, individual parts or exchanging parts with similar parts from other seals you know, but that did a different job.

So that would mean that replacing parts of fire absorption with other seals, you could absorb other things.

You looked up at his mask and gave it a big evil grin.

"What are you looking at?"

"Just your face, I like it," you said.

He just looked weirdly at you. Did he get that you were up to no good?

"Would it be okay if I practised on my own?" You asked. "Genma wouldn't allow me."

Kakashi thought about it for what felt like an eternity. And you looked at him with a tense expression.

"You'll never learn without practising. But remember what I said earlier. Don't depend on untested seals. Don't do anything indoors or near other people. And when dealing with anything dangerous. Try figuring out what you think is a safe distance and double it," he said. "Got it?"

"Yes," you said and smiled at him. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

"Don't make me regret it," he said.

"So can we go through the storing seal and fire absorption seal too?" You asked.

"Sure, the sooner I'll get rid of you."

"Love you too sensei," you said to him with a big smile.

"Don't make this weird or I'm leaving you."

"Sorry, just continue with the lesson."

You should really take notes, but from your experience with Genma, this kind of stuff just stuck to your brain like a parasite.

As he finished his explanation you just wanted to go home. And enact your master plan and channel your inner Uzumaki.

"Thanks for today," you said and ran off.

-x-

On the way home, you had bought with you some paper, ink, needle, thread and a small roll of cloth. The later was kind of a waste, but they weren't willing to sell you just the piece you needed.

Your sewing wasn't perfect, but it didn't have to be. You just needed it for testing.

You just had to look up the necessary kanji in your dictionary. If you were right, replacing the fire or whatever with what you wanted to absorb would do the trick. Kakashi won't know what hits him.

You were shaking of excitement as you were drawing it out to the point where you needed to keep your hand steady.

There were some other things you had do to make the seal work. It wasn't just to replace the word and be done with it. But you heard faint whispers in your head telling you how to fix it. Simply adding a few more words and connections.

You ignored Kakashi's advice about trying it outside, it wouldn't harm anyone.

And as you activated it, you knew you had done it. Your first original seal.

-x-

You wanted to skip today's academy lessons, but sadly Kakashi wouldn't come sooner that way. So Iruka's lesson was the only option. You weren't going to skip class for no good reason.

"What's up with you today Sota, you look like Naruto when he's going to prank someone," he said.

"Wah?" You exclaimed.

"You're smiling, that's not you. But it suits you. You should smile more, it will help you make friends," he said.

You smiled with Itachi, didn't you? And with Shisui the other day? Hope so, or you're the worlds worst six-year-old.

So if you smiled people though you were up to no good. And if you didn't smile people though you were unfriendly.

There was no winning here. Sure you were actually up to no good today. But that wasn't the point.

-x-

"I don't like the look for your face," was the first thing Kakashi said when he saw you later that day. "Smiling doesn't suit you."

It was clear why Team 7 hated that man at first. But he softened up to them by time, but that was six years in the future. This Kakashi was too deep into ANBU and was clearly not interested in doing this with you.

So to make him happy, you stopped looking like you were happy to be there.

"So any wishes for today?" He asked you.

"I wanted to show you something I practised yesterday. I've tested it,"

"What does it do?" He asked you.

"It's a surprise," you answered.

"Ninja hate surprises. But go on."

You picked your prepared scroll out of your backpack and ensured to stay close enough to Kakashi for it to take effect.

He took a peek at it while you activated it. And before you had any chance to react, you were on the ground face down with Kakashi holding you down.

"Don't do that again!" He called out and held you there for a moment.

It took a few seconds before his grip loosened. And when you got up, his mask was back on as he picked up your scroll.

Before you could get another word in, he grabbed you by the wrist.

You weren't sure where he was taking you. And if you didn't know better, you'd guess he was a crazy psychopath taking you away to execute you. Everything about his body language told you he was furious. With his speed, it was hard to follow suit and in parts of the way he just dragged you forward.

As you reached the end goal, the Hokage Tower he slowed down. Probably not to be seen dragging an Academy student as he'd just done. But that didn't mean he lost the grip on you.

It wasn't until you entered the Hokage's office that he let you go.

"Kakashi, what are you doing?!" The Hokage yelled at him.

"This kid is nothing but a troublemaker," he said and glared down at you, making you feel uneasy.

"What did Sota here do?" The Hokage questioned.

"He took my mask," Kakashi said, one word at the time.

"Tell me Sota, how does he look under the mask," Hiruzen looked at you.

"I didn't see anything, as soon as I activated the seal he pushed me to the ground and dragged me here."

"That's a creative use of fuuinjutsu, that reminds me of something … could do. Turns that you didn't betray my trust in investments in you," Hiruzen said.

"He betrayed my trust. No one fucks with my mask," Kakashi grunted.

"It's just a mask Kakashi," The Hokage scolded. "He has shown skill and creativity with what you've taught him and you answer with anger and aggression. What kind of teacher are you?"

"I'm no teacher and I hate his hair," he said.

Things really started to unravel for you. You reminded him of Kushina and he hated it. He didn't wish to see a ghost. And it wasn't so much about the mask as some redhead pranking him as Kushina did. You almost felt bad for him. Almost, it still didn't excuse his actions.

"I want you to declare his seal a kinjutsu. It's not just about my own mask, but as it can be easily used to demask ANBU agents, it is a security threat that has no other practical applications than becoming a problem for our ninja," Kakashi argued.

"Let me look at that seal," The Hokage said and Kakashi handed your work to him.

The old Kage took a close look at it.

"Hmm. this isn't a trivial modification, most people would just replace the central symbol and then fail. So how did you fix it, I doubt Kakashi over here was any help?"

Were you going to tell him the truth? Looking at the old man he gave you the icky feeling that he could see straight through you.

"Whispers in my head," you said with a low voice. As you didn't want to announce to the entire tower that you may be crazy.

"Do these whispers say anything else do you?" He asked you.

"Just helping me with sealing, nothing else," you answered.

"Have they appeared in front of you in any form?" He asked.

"No. Why would they?" You asked.

"No reason at all. I may finally have found about your secret," he said.

"My secret?" You stuttered. Did he figure out that you were not really Sota, but just someone yeeted into this world by unexpected means?

"The secret behind the Uzumaki. Voices in your heads, everything makes sense now."

"Shouldn't Naruto experience something similar then?" You asked.

"He's too much of a troublemaker to learn this kind of stuff at the moment. Though time will tell, he might not have this ability due to his yellow hair or he might even be better than you."

So now the Hokage was implying that Naruto might not be a real Uzumaki. People were hypocrites.

"Kakashi, you're continuing this. You can't get out of something you don't like by being a pain in the ass. But I'll grant your request, I'll forbid anyone to make any more copies of this seal, or else you'd probably find a way to make life difficult for me. Think of it as a reward you don't deserve."

He then turned to you again.

"You can go now Sota. You're not in any trouble, just don't make any more forbidden seals will you?"

-x-

"You're early," Shisui greeted you as approached his place.

"Kakashi got mad at me for stealing his mask, so he ended the lesson before we started and dragged me to the Hokage."

"So…" he said.

"I couldn't see anything, the bastard was too quick for me."

"You need to tell me how you did it, I'll pay you back in dango."

"The Hokage forbid me from doing it again under Kakashi's insistence. Should we start?"

"Stop being so impatient kid. You've your whole life in front of you and you're an Uzumaki so you'll probably live till you're 200 years old."

"I'm sorry," you replied. "I just feel I need to be strong to defend myself."

Danzo, Orochimaru, Pain. And any other threat that might come your way.

As Shisui started walking to the lake, he had another lesson for you. "You're still a six-year-old boy. No one expects you to defend the village. The village will protect you until you get strong enough to protect the new generation."

"Why can't people have some trust in me?" You looked up at him.

"Is anything bothering you?" He asked you.

"No," you said. Your body language, however, betrayed you.

"If you change your mind, you can always come to me and talk if you don't want to talk to Itachi about it."

"I will," you replied.

As you were about to step onto the lake, Shisui called out to you.

"Are you sure you want to make your clothes wet?"

He was right, you stripped down to your underwear and stepped back in.

As you put one foot on the surface and pushed chakra through it, it was like stepping on one of those floating devices used to help people learning to swim.

Safe to say, you didn't trust putting more weight on the foot.

So the way to go was to push more chakra into your foot. But that just threw you forward into the water making you wet.

At least the water wasn't so bad. You wondered if the Uchiha used their fire jutsu to warm up the lake to a comfortable temperature or if it was just the weather the last weeks.

Tries after tries, minutes become hours and you made no progress. And you paid no attention to what Shisui was doing on the side.

"Time to call it for the day," he called out to you.

As you stepped out of the water still dripping wet. He was ready with a body towel to dry you off.

"Good work today Sota," he smiled at you and handed you a stick of dango he had kept who knows where.

"I could still go on for longer," you said.

"Maybe, but you're with me today. And I'm not letting you train all day and neglect eating."

You could try to master the pout. But dinner didn't seem too bad really.

-x-

Two days later.

Today would be a boring day, Kakashi had also decided to take a break today. Not that you missed too much. You couldn't call him spending ten minutes yesterday telling you to store and mark your seals properly and then walk away for a lesson.

He did what he needed to do to say he had taught you something. Messing with that man was a huge mistake, as he was much more helpful in the first two days.

As you were exiting the school you felt a hand ruffle your head. You looked up at the offender.

"Itachi," you smiled at him.

"Are you ready for more training?" He asked you.

"Yes, but shouldn't you spend time with Sasuke now that you're back."

"Unlike you, Sasuke isn't hopeless in making friends. He has classmates that seem to like him. He just needs a push."

"I made friends with Shisui," you argued.

"I asked him to watch over you. But he seems to like you kid. He told me what happened with Kakashi, I'm impressed. So have you got any more practising the Henge Jutsu?"

"Yeah. I still feel crap at it."

"Can you show me? Copy into me."

You prepared the hand signs and a mental image of Itachi.

"You're getting better, you just need more practice, but you can do that on your own. I think we should move onto the Replacement Jutsu."

-x-

After a day of jutsu practise, attempts at water-walking, sparring and another tense dinner with the Uchiha. You could say you were a bit tired.

So it wasn't strange that you had a hard time focusing on where you were going. You only had yourself to blame when you bumped into someone and fell down on your butt.

"I'm sorry, I was careless I've been training all day," you said and rubbed your head before you looked up to see who you had offended.

Your eyes widened.

Cane, black robe covering their body. Bandaged head with shaggy black hair sticking up from the top.

Only one man fit that description.

"Danzo"

His gaze made you freeze in place, unable to stand up. All you could do was the shuttle further back.

"Uzumaki Sota, nice to meet you," Danzo said and looked down at you.

You wanted to run, but your body refused.

"What do you want with me?" You asked, as your mouth was a lot more careless than your body. Your voice, however, was shaking and did nothing to hide your fear.

"You don't have to be afraid of me. I don't want you any harm," he said.

Liar!

"I don't want to join Root," you told him.

Why did you do that? His expression didn't change any, of course it didn't. You needed to stop the shaking. Stop being so stupid Sota, focus. Close your eyes, if you can't see him he wouldn't be there right. Of course not, it was too late to escape the curse of object permanence.

You tried breathing in and out, he wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't he saying anything? None of that mattered. You rolled over onto your knees, opened your eyes and then full speed away from him.

-x-

It was stupid to mention Root, but too late now. You could hope that by mentioning its name, it would discourage him from recruiting you later on. You weren't sure what he'd think. Maybe that the Hokage had warned you or something and he'd take that as a sign that the Hokage would protect you?

But it was you that bumped into him. Maybe he didn't want anything to do with you and you were just overthinking stuff? He wasn't interested in Naruto at this point, so why you? And now you only pissed him off by being rude to him for no reason. But unlike Naruto, you weren't a terrible student so what what was the truth...

Itachi was right, it was stupid of you to progress this fast, and now it was too late to turn around. There were too many eyes on your back to suddenly hold back since if it was something Konoha liked, it was messing up their young prodigies. And if Danzo was seeking you out, you could be the next messed up kid on the list.

-x-

Two things were certain in life as the Hokage. Death and Paperwork. And Hiruzen would quite like a distraction right now.

And the gods seemed to have answered him as he heard familiar knocking on his door.

"Come in," Hiruzen said, despite knowing from the familiar knocks that this wasn't the distraction he was looking for.

Danzo stepped in and locked the door behind him before he sat down in his regular chair beside the Hokage.

"It's about Uzumaki Sota, someone seems to have been feeding him classified information," Danzo said.

"And what classified information should that be?" Hiruzen asked.

"He knows about Root. I think someone is trying to make him fear me," Danzo said.

"You are a quite intimidating person," Hiruzen commented.

"So is Uchiha Fugaku, and the kid doesn't seem affected by that man. He crawled back when he saw me and ran away quickly after telling me 'I don't want to join Root'. I want a list of who has been in contact with the boy," Danzo demanded.

Sarutobi went to one of his bookshelves and pulled out a binder before going back to his desk.

"This is all the encounters the boy had the last year, is that sufficient?" He asked Danzo.

"Let me take a look," Danzo replied.

Sarutobi unsealed the lock and handed it to the other man who began to read.

"Lots of meetings with Hatake the last week. What's what about?"

"He has been teaching the kid sealing as he quickly outgrew what Genma could teach him. But Kakashi seems to hate the boy, sure you want to suspect him?" Hiruzen explained.

Danzo continued looking further back in the book.

"There are other potential suspects. You forced me to remove the seal after he left Root, so he'd be free to tell the boy any secrets. Can I see the transcripts of his conversations with Hatake?" Danzo asked.

"There is no reason to give you those, besides he could just have omitted anything incriminating," Sarutobi said.

"But sloppy work could give signs of wrongdoing," Danzo interrupted.

"I'll have someone analyse his reports and then I'll talk to him. You're staying away from Hatake until further notice. You'll not be of any help when you've already made up your decision."

As Danzo was leaving the office, Sarutobi gave him one last warning. "Don't do anything with Sota behind my back."

-x-

One moment you were waiting for Kakashi, another moment you were thrown to the ground before getting your face pushed into the dirt.

"Do you know what kind of problems you've caused me now?" Kakashi crouched down and yelled at you.

"No," you muttered under the weight of the jounin.

"I don't know how you know about Root or why you were stupid enough to mention it to Danzo. But if you dare throw me to the wolves and blame me. You're going to suffer and you will quickly learn that your young age won't protect you."

"That's enough, let him go!" Shisui called out from behind the trees.

As Kakashi lift the pressure you turned towards your new friend. Sharingan ready and sword out.

He really thought Kakashi was going to hurt you. He wasn't really going to, was he? Or was it you that didn't understand the gravity of the situation and just depended too much on non-existent plot armour that you got cocky and arrogant? He wouldn't get away with killing you. But lots of people killed knowing they'd get caught.

He helped you up before addressing Kakashi again. "If you don't go straight to the Hokage and resign as his teacher, I'm going to report this and launch an official police investigation against you. You know perfectly well what my clan thinks about you. Don't give them a chance to take revenge."

Kakashi the 'Eye Thief' walked away, hopefully for the last time, and Shisui turned to you again.

"Let me take a look at you," he told you and rubbed away the dirt from your face.

"Some scratches, but you're not bleeding, so you should be fine."

"Its…" you said before getting interrupted.

"It's not your fault. Kakashi is an adult, one of the best, he should know better."

-x-

In the next weeks, you were on your own when it came to sealing. And it was perhaps for the better. You got a lot done by yourself. You could make stuff faster and than ever and had made neatly labelled boxes to put your stuff in. Small explosives, medium and big ones. All ready for when you became genin. Though the latter might be a bit too dangerous, any teammate could underestimate their effects and someone could get hurt.

The child in you really liked watching stuff blow up. If it wasn't for the fact that Deidara was an Iwa-nin and would join Akatsuki, you could probably have become best friends in the future.

The only Jutsu left mastering of the academy three was the clone. Sasuke and your other classmates had become more and more of a joke as your sparring against Itachi had improved. Only for you to figure out how much he had held back against you.

All in all, life was going great for you.

-x-

Sasuke waited till you had left the classroom for the day before approaching Naruto.

"I need your help," he said to the other boy.

Naruto was smiling towards him as he got some attention. "I'll help," he replied.

"The asshole. He's stealing my Nii-san from me. Help me take revenge." Sasuke said.

"What should we do?" Naruto asked.

"I hoped you had any good idea. You're always pranking people and annoying the adults."

"We could check his room, he's an orphan like me, so he lives alone. But we might get caught."

"Hnn, he's always out training after school, so he won't get back till its dark."

Naruto showed the way for Sasuke as the walked towards your place.

"How do you know where he lives," Sasuke asked.

"I wanted to be his friend when I started the academy so I asked Iruka about were he lived. It didn't go so well," he said turning to Sasuke to expose his red eyes.

Sasuke didn't pay much attention and turned to your door, but it would budge. "We should have stolen his key."

Naruto pushed Sasuke away and stuck something into the lock. After a few seconds of rattling, Naruto could open the door.

"Everyone thinks I'm a loser. But they're wrong," Naruto responded to Sasuke's thoughts.

The two of them looked around in your somewhat messy room. Sasuke's eyes were drawn to your boxes of explosives.

If you wanted revenge, you went big. So he grabbed the last box down from the shelf and looked inside it. There wasn't many in there. But one was enough for Sasuke.

"Come over here Naruto. Look at this," Sasuke said and held out one or your seals.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"We put some chakra through it and then it goes BOOM and he'll get scared and piss his pants," Sasuke said and waved for emphasis.

"It's perfect," Naruto replied. "We can take him down and show him that he's not as good as he thinks he is. He'll be fine right? Pranks aren't supposed to hurt people."

"I've seen Itachi using them, they're not that dangerous at distance."

-x-

You were just walking home as you saw a bright flash around you. Followed big a deafening blast and you were shot forward.

Everything hurt. Trying to move anything hurt. Your ears felt like they bleeding. Your mind was all fuzzy. Till all slipped away. Was this the end. Killed in an assassination attempt in your own village?

-x-

You were floating in some kind of water and your body suddenly felt fine again. From the corner of your eye, you could see blue fires lighten up the water.

Was this how death felt like?

Starting in the water of the womb, ending in the water of…

"Are you going to just float there all day boy?" A grand voice called out behind you.

You turned around in the water and saw something you would never expect to see.

"Matatabi…" you stuttered while pointing and the giant cat in the distance. "What are you doing here?"

"Who told you my name?" She asked and flashed her teeth towards you.

"You, I think, I'm not sure. It's a long story."

"For how I got here, didn't your Kage tell you that?" she asked.

"I know, but you're not supposed to be in Konoha, you're supposed to be in Cloud. Into a girl named Yugito. She's not dead is she?"

"I don't know any girl named Yugito. I was previously sealed into an old woman from the Cloud. But we never talked and I don't know happened to them," she said.

"Oh… I'm Uzumaki Sota and I'll try to be a better Jinchuuriki," you said and held your hand out towards here.

"You know, I've been cramped here forever, with all this dreadful water. Can't you help me out a bit, loosen the seal a bit so I can go outside and stretched my feet?" She asked. "I hear that the nature around your village is wonderful."

"I'm not getting tricked so easily, I wasn't born yesterday," you replied.

"You're sorely mistaken. Wouldn't you also want to go out sometimes if you were locked inside a cell for years? You want to be a good Jinchuuriki, but you only want to take my power and not help me back. No wonder you can't make friends kid."

"I…" You tried answering.

No, you're not getting yourself getting guilt-tripped by a giant blue cat who would take revenge on humanity the second she got loose. But guilt still tore on you. You were acting on knowledge you weren't supposed to know about. So your brain is pushing you one direction and your mind another.

If you weren't transported here from the real world with all the memories of canon. Would Sota have given in at this point and doomed Konoha?

No, you needed to address her properly, no reason to be afraid.

"The village has trusted me to keep you contained. I hope we can someday fight together like partners, like friends. But you're not being honest with me. If I remove the seal I die. You're not being a good tailed-beast you know." you said.

"Very well. Sounds like you're too heartless to trick," she replied.

"I'm not heartless!" You yelled back at the stupid cat.

"Then show it!"

"I can scratch your ear?" You offered, cats like that, right?

"You don't deserve to scratch my ear," she roared.

"Then I've nothing. Can I get out now? We can talk later again," you said.

"You almost died. With the power of my chakra, you healed fast enough to not bleed out before medics could save you. But you've been nothing but ungrateful towards me. Without me, this would have ended up with you disfigured and you could just forget about becoming a ninja, but with my help, you'll get out of this without a scratch."

"I'm sorry", you cried out. "Let's talk again another day. Just please stop messing with my head."

"Or what, you'll realize that you're an evil kid and change your ways?"

"No… it's an all a trick. You're trying to trick me," you mumbled. You could get away from her. you just needed to swim away. Ignore her taunts. You'd nothing to say in response. She was right, you were an awful kid.

What if you just let yourself drown. This wasn't a real place, just a place conjured up in your mind. If you passed out here, you could maybe escape? Or at least no one could see you cry underwater.

-x-

You could hear beeping around you. You were safe from Matatabi. You took a deep breath in and then out.

You tried opening your eyes, but only your left eye would obey. Same happened when you tried moving your arms. Moving the left one went fine, moving the right one lead to immense pain. You shut your eye and started screaming in response.

You heard people rush into your room. A soothing liquid flowed into your veins and things started to feel much better and you could open your eye again.

"Try not to move, please. Are you still in pain?" A medic-nin asked you.

"I'm fine. What happened, I got caught in an explosion, I thought I was going to die. Was the village attacked?"

"No. Two of your classmates broke into your apartment and stole some of your explosive tags," they explained.

"Who?" You asked. You knew who, you just needed to get the confirmation before accusing anyone.

"Sasuke and Naruto. They're already getting suspended and will for a long time. I need to go look at the other patients. Though you have a visitor, should I let them in?"

"Yes," you answered.

You moved your eye towards the door and saw Itachi.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault," you said.

"Sota, you're not the fault that Naruto and my brother attacked you," Itachi said.

"I'm an awful person, I only got what I deserved."

"Sota, you're not an awful person. What can you possibly think you've done to deserve this?"

"I bullied him, then I rejected Naruto's friendship, I can't make any friends on my own," you cried out.

"You changed, you're no longer bullying anyone. You are a friendly person around your friends. You don't owe Naruto your friendship, you're too different to get along. And you know that. Blaming yourself might make you feel you've control over your own fate. But that doesn't make it true."

"I just had a nightmare, big blue cat told me I was awful and heartless," you said.

"Sota, cats are cute little assholes," he said. "But you shouldn't believe what they're telling you all the time."

"Can you move your arm?" He asked you.

As you replied "yes", he pulled out a stick of dango to hand you.

"Thanks, you're a good friend," you replied as you grabbed the stick of deliciousness.

"There is something I need to come clean about. I might not be the best timing, but I feel it's better to get over with it. Know that it won't change anything. Just promise me that you'll let me finish talking?"

"I will," you replied.

"You may wonder why I befriended you months ago. The truth is that I was told to seek you out by Danzo to befriend and report back on you. But that doesn't mean I never saw you as a friend. I don't really know why he was interested in you."

"I'm the two-tails' Jinchuuriki," you told him.

"Should you really be telling me that? That kind of stuff is definitely classified," he said.

"No one told me that I couldn't tell anyone. I just learnt about it. I talked to her. She tried making me feel guilty about everything, it worked."

"Don't talk to her again will you?" He asked you.

"She needs a friend too, she just needs time. She saved my life," you said.

"You're a strange kid. She is awful and manipulative towards you and you still want to be her friend. Don't you see that makes you a good friend, not a bad one?"

"I guess," you replied.

"And you still want to be my friend even after what I told you?"

"Yes."

"Then you are a good forgiving friend. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise," he said.

"Thanks," you mumbled.

"I hope you'll forgive Sasuke too. He didn't know how dangerous what he did was. He was mad at me for spending so much time with you and not him. He's not a revengeful kid," Itachi explained.

It was finally time to tell Itachi the truth.

"Sasuke is all about revenge," you said.

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"He'll do anything to get powerful enough to kill you."

"Why would Sasuke want to kill me, he loves me?"

"You're going to do something horrible by orders of Danzo to protect him and the village."

Itachi didn't say anything for a while, just sat there and thought about what you were saying.

"When?"

"In two years," you explained. "Unless something changes for the better or worse."

"I'm sorry, but you must be wrong about this. Let's not talk about this again. And if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, you really shouldn't be so open about it. There are ears and eyes everywhere, and I just told you that I'm spying on you. Why do you trust me so much?"

"I know the future," you said.

"I'm going to call off the mission and tell him that you figured me out. But I'll still be your friend. And don't think for a second that our friendship isn't real."

"Thanks,"

"I need to go watch Sasuke and Naruto. They'll have to do chores around the village till their suspension is over. I'll come back tonight," Itachi said.

Without anything to do and the effects of the treatment, you just wanted to nap, hopefully, you wouldn't wake up to her again.

-x-

Sudden knocks on your window woke you up later that night. You looked outside, trying to not move too much around. It was pitch dark both inside and outside, but you could see the glowing eyes of Itachi's Sharingan. Where had he been?

He stealthily opened the window and stealthily entered the room.

He moved right next to you and whispered in your ear. "Sorry, I'm late. You were right about earlier. Danzo let me go on this mission, so now he wants me to spy on my own clan to figure out what they're up to. I want to hear everything you know one day, but we'd need to take that outside the village, we can't take any chances. I can't request you on a mission before you graduate. I just hope no one is onto us yet."

Itachi turned off his Sharingan and everything became dark again. You couldn't even hear him leave. He wasn't sneaky ninja for nothing.

-x-

Itachi didn't visit you again before the afternoon the next day, but some dango made you forgive him right away. He was right about one thing, stuffing balls inside you made you happy.

"I'm sorry, Naruto and Sasuke spent too much time arguing today, they had to make up for it for staying longer. Things are not going well, Father is furious, he thinks Sasuke is being too heavily punished. He doesn't understand that Sasuke got rather easily away from it. Any two other students would have gotten kicked out of the academy for good," Itachi explained.

"Do you know what happened. I assume the Hokage talked with all four of you?" You asked.

"Yes. Since Father is the clan-head and chief of the Police, any case involving Sasuke can't really be dealt with within the clan. It doesn't help that my father insists they'd process it fairly. So he's pretty mad about that.

"I'm trying to calm him down and get him to understand that this is good for my brother. He worries about how this will affect Sasuke's education. We've both gotten strict instructions to not teach him anything to make up for missing school, and one of us have to watch over them each day as they're performing their punishment. So far father hasn't done his fair share."

"How long are they being suspended?"

"Twice the time until you recover completely. If you had been anyone else, that could take a long time. Hopefully, my father will calm down when he sees you're a quick healer. And he will get permission to start teaching Sasuke when you're back at the academy and can start your own training again."

"Why is the Hokage doing this, doesn't he want us all to be our best? Doesn't make sense to deny Naruto and Sasuke training," you said.

"There has always been a rivalry between ninja, even in the same village. The Hokage was very clear on the fact that Sasuke's crime should not give him any benefit in catching up to you."

"You should try talking to the Hokage about this, how you fear this will create a bigger rift between the Uchiha and the village and figure out something that can weight up for this situation. I don't want to be the reason everything goes wrong even earlier."

"What do you suggest?" Itachi asked.

"I dunno. Give some Uchiha an undeserved promotion, name a bridge in your father's honour. You can think about something. Maybe…" you stopped yourself from continuing.

"Maybe what?"

"Offer Sasuke the chance to graduate early alongside me. He'll fail I'm sure, but it will show your father some respect."

"I hope you're right, if my baby brother is being put in danger due to early graduation, I'll make you buy your own dango."

"You wouldn't dare!" You said.

-x-

Itachi had other stuff to do. You couldn't exactly do any training in your current state. Not that the nurses would approve of sparring in the hospital bed. So safe to say, you were bored again.

Your next visitor was a bit more of a surprise.

And not the good kind of surprise. Like some foreign prince wanting to give you money. No, more like the kind of surprise people get when they find nasty stuff in their food.

"We look like twins now," you greeted Danzo.

Turns out that the man didn't appreciate a good joke, he didn't even smile.

"Good evening Uzumaki," he said.

"Evening," you replied. If he wanted to be more formal with fewer jokes you better listen to him.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asked.

"No," you said. The less that man knew the better.

"Are you sure about that, as that's not what I've heard," he said.

"And what have you heard?" You wondered.

"I want to know it from you rather than base my actions on rumours," Danzo said. All the telltales of a bluff. But he knew stuff, Itachi had probably told him about the cat. He was just testing you, and you knew better than to get on his bad sides. You should probably not have told that joke earlier.

"I meet with the two-tails. She wanted me to release her, but I said no," you explained.

"And when was this?" He asked.

"After I got attacked. I woke up in a lake surrounded by bars with her seal on the outside. Then she taunted me."

"So it wasn't she who told you about my organization. So who was it? Kakashi right?"

"No it wasn't," you said.

"He threatened you didn't he?" Danzo said.

"Yes, he told me to not put the blame on him. I don't know how I know. My memory loss made me remember other's memories at the cost of forgetting myself. I don't think you've any traitor to deal with."

"What more do you remember that you shouldn't?" He asked you.

"I only remember people's names. That's how I knew your name too," you said. You were probably not a good liar. But he seemed to be a man that could work with half-truths. And letting his targets think they got away with it.

"You've no one to help you with fuuinjutsu lately, is that right?"

"I've managed to get some stuff done on my own."

"Like what? Your apartment was checked for any other dangerous items. But all that was found was explosive tags. Some quite potent ones. But nothing special."

"I might have gotten a bit hooked on them. Explosions are fun as long as you don't get caught in your own."

"Do you know who Uzumaki Mito is?" He asked you.

"Yes," you said. Not daring to lie.

"I once had the chance to study under her. I could help you," he offered.

Why did he think you'd want to be around him more than necessary? The only reason you weren't running away from him was that you couldn't.

"She isn't my secret grandmother or something?" You asked.

"No. You're too young for that. I don't know your heritage. You seek to graduate early right, how is that going?"

"I still can't get the hang of the clone Jutsu. And with the two-tails, it is probably impossible."

"You know there are ways around it, but you won't learn that jutsu before you're a jounin."

"Shadow clones?" You asked.

"So you've heard about it. But I can influence things. I and the Hokage are old friends. If it's up to Hiruzen, he'd have you wait till you're twelve like anyone else."

"I can just ask Itachi or Shisui for help," you said.

"And cause them to get in trouble for teaching you a jutsu well above your level?"

"I guess not," you said.

"Think about my offer. I can set up a little workshop for you," he offered.

"My own room works perfectly well," you countered.

"You almost got killed by your own work. You won't be allowed to continue studying in such an unsafe environment," he said.

"So it's either becoming your student or not doing any fuuinjutsu at all?"

"Think about it for a few days will you?"

What to do, what to do…

You could learn a lot from him. But he's Danzo. He never does anything without ulterior motives. He'd probably work on manipulating you over time to join Root by changing your perception of him. Make you grateful for his help. And the terrifying part is that it would probably work.

And if you said no. You'd be stuck in the academy for ages. Never really progress in Fuuinjutsu and be quite ill-prepared when Akatsuki comes for your asshole cat.

You needed to talk with someone else about this.

-x-

In the next days, you had no visitors. No signs of either Shisui or Itachi. Only yourself and miles of bandages.

Though there wasn't only bad news. They'd freed your right arm so you had a bit more mobility, even if it was a bit stiff still. And being able to sit up in bed was quite nice after being forced to lie down for days.

The nurses had provided you with some colouring books to keep you occupied as you quickly finished your homework. Could you make seals with crayons or did it have to be ink?

The nurses would probably not appreciate it if you started to produce explosives in your bed after an explosive accident.

You should start working on making seals that could absorb explosives automatically so this wouldn't happen again. But currently, the fire absorption seal you knew required a manual trigger. But Kakashi did mention seal in the Hokage's office to prevent a Kage to set fire to his own paperwork. If only you got your hands on one of those.

But they were hidden and you wouldn't get your hands on them. Though Danzo could…

No, you were no Sasuke. Making deals with the devil to gain power was stupid. But making deals with the devil to gain knowledge was another case.

Why was the urge to learn so strong inside you?

You just needed to work on defending yourself from manipulation. You said no to Matatabi, you can say no to Danzo if things go too far.

Just up the offer to include that seal.

Then it was just waiting for Danzo to visit again.

In the meantime, start on colouring in the three Sannin. How old was this colouring book to still include Orochimaru? At least it was fun to give the man pink hair.

As much as you wanted to experiment with more seals, it wouldn't be good if the nurses confiscated your only entertainment.

-x-

After another couple of days of no visits, Danzo appeared in the room with you again.

"Good evening Uzumaki," he greeted.

"Evening Danzo," you replied, not wanting to offend the man even more than you'd done. You wanted on his good side for once.

"So have you gotten some time to think about my offer?" He asked.

"I've," you said.

"So?"

"I'll accept it on one condition, I want to learn how the fire suppressing seals in the Hokage's office work," you said.

Danzo responded by closing his eye.

Thinking. Thinking too long.

"I don't see the harm, I'll see what I can do. Though in return, keep this between us. For everything you're asking me, some trust and confidentiality is a small price," he finally said before leaving.

-x-

It wasn't till Itachi visited two hours later you realized how stupid you had been.

It wasn't because no one liked you that you hadn't gotten visitors. It was because Danzo didn't want you to discuss the matter with anyone.

Too late to change your mind now. And despite everything, you were convinced you'd come advantageous out of it. So why ruin it with paranoia? He might just want to help you grow for the sake of Konoha, especially now that you learn the truth about yourself.

Danzo would probably find out and figure a way to punish you if you told Itachi anything.

How would he know though? Itachi isn't spying on you for him anymore. But…

Better not risk it.

"What are you thinking about Sota?"

"Your cute face," you said.

"Keep your secrets," Itachi smiled.

"Where have you been, it has been quite lonely here you know," you said.

"I and Shisui were called on a mission the morning after I visited you last time. I had sadly no chance of telling you beforehand," he explained.

Proving your previous thoughts perfectly.

"You're now. So did that mean your father had to watch Sasuke all week?"

"Yes, he was not happy about it. But I did as you suggested and talked with the Hokage. He seemed to approve, he just needed to think a bit about it. He has invited father for tea later today. So we'll see how that's going," he said.

"I hope everything goes well. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me, we'll find a way to solve this," Itachi said and put a hand on your head to comfort you.

Another few days and you were out of the hospital.

Your legs were still not healed well enough to walk on. And you still had the bandage covering half of your head, but that would get removed later that day. So you had to stay in a wheelchair for perhaps a week they estimated.

But it was easy to roll around. The village was pretty flat and as a ninja, you had strong enough arms. As you rolled into the classroom, you could see the worry on their eyes.

Hinata raised her hand in the air.

"Yes, Hinata," Iruka said.

"Will he be okay?" She asked.

"Yes, the doctors are certain he'll recover. No need to worry about that, class. But he'll not be able to participate in every activity till he recovers."

"You better get better Sota, I've gotten a lot stronger since you've been gone, I'm going to kick your ass," Kiba warmed your heart there. Despite pushing everyone away, you were kind of part of the class for the first time.

"Kiba, stop bragging, he could beat you while in a wheelchair," Shikamaru told him.

Thanks for the trust Shika, but don't push me in any necessarily challenges, that would be Troublesome as you say.

Japanese was the only useful class you had here really. And even here you didn't feel you learnt much, it was easy to keep up with the lost material. Especially as you'd been provided with the missed schoolwork while at the hospital. So safe to say, school was going to be useless till you could move your body around again.

You got some comforting smiles during the day and you took Matatabi's words to you and smiled back but no one approached to talk to you.

-x-

Later that day you were back at the hospital.

"How did the day go, any problems?" One of your regular nurses asked.

"No," and if there was, you wouldn't give them any reason to keep you here even longer.

"Good, then we start removing some of your bandages," she said and rolled you towards a mirror so you could see for yourself.

One green eye peeked back at you with your red hair peeking up. How could Danzo deny your similarities? If it wasn't for the fact that you didn't want Naruto close to him, you'd dare him to dye his hair red as a prank to solidify the picture.

The nurse started to pull on the bandages, finally getting fresh air on your skin like shedding a second skin. Finally getting your depth vision back.

But it wasn't a green eye that meets you, but a vibrant yellow one.

You growled into the mirror, making the nurse take a step back.

Damn you Matatabi! You knew exactly what she was thinking. Giving you a little gift as a reminder that she saved you so you'd be grateful towards her in the future.

Though if your eye was destroyed in the attack, this was better than nothing or Danzo sneaking in a Sharingan into your eye socket.

Though you didn't really have to worry too much, the cat was far from as well known as Kurama as she had never attacked the village. So hopefully no one would make much out of it. And in your class, only Sasuke had probably looked enough at your eyes during spars to notice any change.

The issue was more putting on a signpost for Akatsuki. And unless you were Tsunade, trying to hide your appearance for any amount of time was never going to work.

You had little wish to destroy your eye again to hide it. You quite liked your depth perception.

As you left the hospital you saw Shisui approaching you.

His eye meeting yours, not like in a romantic comedy sense. But rather to address the elephant in the room. Your new eye.

"How?" He asked.

"Furry little problem," you answered.

"Does it have any special powers?"

"I don't know, just discovered it. I doubt it, it's probably just decorative, so now our eyes match,"

"How do you feel about it?" He asked.

"I don't like it. Hey, stop pushing me!" You exclaimed.

"I just wanted to help you," he said.

"I've been unable to move on my own for days, so I want to be in control myself. Sorry, I know you just wanted to help," you smiled at him.

-x-

You were a bit surprised when you saw Shikamaru approach you the next day after school.

"Sota, my father is out of the village for a mission, so I don't have any to play Shogi with, do you want to give it a try?"

"I don't know how to play," you answered.

"I can teach you, so what do you say?"

"Okay," it could be fun.

It was a bit of a distance to where he lived, but not that bad.

He pushed away one of the chairs in front of the table so you could fit and began setting up the board.

"We're supposed to capture each other's king", he said pointing to the two king pieces.

The nice thing with playing Shogi when actually proficient at Japanese was that every piece was nicely labelled and not just confusing scribbles one would have to learn.

"Every piece can move differently. The king can move one step in any direction. The lance can move forwards as far as he wants but he cannot jump over pieces," he explained each pieces' moves by pointing to it and showing some legal moves.

It was kind of like chess, but more like the Crazyhouse variant as you could put captured pieces back on the board on your team instead of a normal move. And unlike chess, it wasn't just the pawns that could promote, but in return, each piece had their own promoted state and wouldn't become queens, in fact, there were no queens in this game. And promotion wasn't always beneficial in this game unlike chess as certain pieces would lose part of its mobility in exchange for other movement options.

Safe to say, this was complicated.

"Do you think you'll get it?" he asked.

You nodded.

"Just ask if you forget how to move a piece."

"Okay, who's starting?" You asked.

"You can start."

You'd no idea of any Shogi opening theory, so you started like in chess and moved a pawn to give your officers a chance to escape.

There was no surprise that your king didn't live a long and prosperous life, as Shikamaru quickly cornered him.

"Play again?" He asked you.

You nodded and this time you tried to help him set up the board, but you limit yourself to the pawn line as that was the only one you could properly remember.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"It's alright, I just need to get better so I can have more fun with it," you said and made your first move.

"You can have fun with something even if you're not the best," he told you and replied with a move of his own.

"I know, I just want to have a fighting chance in whatever I do."

"That's fair."

The only thing differing this round was that you were less unsure about the pieces' move-set, but you still lost hard.

"Again," you mumbled.

"Alright," he said.

And another loss for you.

"O hi Shikamaru, I see you've got a friend over. You didn't tell me that you've made a new friend," You looked up and saw a woman who looked like Shikamaru's mother.

It didn't seem like he had anything to say.

"You answer me when I talk to you Shikamaru."

"Sorry mom, I've not talked to Sota before today."

"That's better. Have you invited him for dinner yet?"

"No mom," Shikamaru said.

"I'm sorry about him. The dinner is soon ready, so go and wash your hands so we can eat."

"I'm fine," you replied.

"Rubbish, Shikamaru never brings friends so I'll never get to know them. I've more enough food now that Shikaku isn't home," she said.

Her eyes weren't very comforting, at least Danzo eyes were emotionless. Maybe you could become friends with Shikamaru, but it wouldn't do if his mother hated you.

"I guess I'm hungry, food sounds good."

"See that's not that hard, now go wash your hands, boys."

Shikamaru helped you over the doorstep and lead the way to the bathroom. When you reached the sink you noticed a problem. There was no way of reaching it.

"I've got a bit of a problem," you said.

"Oh… How do you solve it at home?" He asked you.

"I have a basin I fill with water so I can wash my hands in that."

"Oh, I don't know if we have anything like that," he said and went to look through the drawers.

He grabbed a hand towel, wet it and put some soap on one end.

"Give me your hands," he told you and you reached out so he could begin to wash them. Being quite thorough. "Mom is quite picky when it comes to cleaning under the nails."

He then made sure to wash off the handlebars on your wheelchair before washing his own in a normal manner.

"I hope it's okay that I push you so that you don't dirty your hands again?"

"It's okay," you replied.

The food did smell delicious, so maybe this wasn't such a bad idea.

"Itadakimasu," the three of you greeted before you're allowed to touch the food.

It was kind of a stew with rice on the side if it tasted as good as it smelt, you were in for a treat.

"So I hear you're on the top of the class?" She asked you.

You nodded, it was rude to speak with your mouth full of food, so you slowed down in order to answer any other questions in a timely manner.

"Your parents must be proud of you."

"I'm an orphan."

"Oh, it must be hard," she continued.

"I don't know anything else," you said. It wasn't really true for you, but it was true for Uzumaki Sota. It would probably be a bit more problematic for you growing up with parents when you were far from a real six-year-old.

"It's just a bit surprising, one wouldn't expect an orphan to do so well. Most are no good troublemakers, but of course, you're one of the good kind. Not taking anything for granted and put some effort into your life and not expect everything to be handed to you just because you've lost your parents."

The food suddenly didn't taste so well anymore.

"It's bad what happened to you, attacking a classmate like that is unheard of, and getting away with a slap on the wrist. Getting expelled would be a mild punishment for that boy, he's nothing but a troublemaker. A perfect example of one of the no-good orphans out there."

You half paid attention to her while just stirring around with the food, but you didn't miss a word of what she was saying.

"Eat properly Sota," she commented before continuing. "Same with that Uchiha friend of his. Just shows how out of control the clan is that the son of the police chief was involved in something like this. They are policing us, but who is policing the Uchiha? There is too many of them, I'm just glad they mostly keep to themselves when they're not patrolling. My friend had her bag stolen a few weeks ago and the Uchiha police haven't done anything to find it. Wouldn't surprise me if they stole it themselves."

Something in your belly began to stir, and you couldn't tell if you were about to vomit or release Matatabi onto the dinner table. Even if she deserved the former, the later would be really really bad.

"I need to go to the bathroom, I'm not feeling that well."

"I hope it wasn't my food, though given how little you've eaten it was probably something you've eaten earlier today. You should check your fridge for old food and smell it before eating it. If it smells bad it's probably gone bad."

You had noticed the side door when you got back from the bathroom earlier, so it was your way out without her noticing.

You carefully slid the door open and it was quiet enough for no one to hear. It did end up in the back garden and you carefully went around the house the other direction to not pass the kitchen window.

"Where did he go, he's been in there forever?" Shikamaru's mother asked her son.

"I think he left," he answered.

"What a rude kid, I guess there is something you need a firm hand from a parent to learn.

-x-

Shikamaru hadn't said anything during school today. And you were kind of happy about it. Now it was just one class left before you could home. And given it was ninja training, it was probably another day of you just watching while the others doing stuff.

"Today we'll be running laps around the track," Mizuki announced. "Sota, you'll join in today too."

It was nice to have something to do, so you took this as a pleasant surprise.

You weren't able to keep up with Kiba today, but you did your best and it was good training for your arms. Your speed, in general, was something you really needed to work on. It wouldn't matter if you got strong in other ways if you couldn't keep up with your enemies. So just tying Kiba wasn't good enough.

But at least your endurance wasn't a problem so you were able to keep a solid pace till Mizuki called off the day.

Shikamaru approached you, looking a bit tense. "Sota, I'm sorry about my mom yesterday. She can be a bit much when dad isn't home. I didn't know she would act like that, I don't have friends over much."

"It's okay," you replied.

"So should we do something today. We could watch the clouds?"

"It's overclouded and it's about to rain, we won't see much," you replied.

"You're right, stupid question," he said.

You began to roll home again.

"Wait," he said and you turned back towards him. "We could go see the deer."

You watched him, not sure what to say.

"Mom won't disturb us, she's not involving herself with the animals unless she must."

"It could be nice."

"Do you want me to push you, your hands must be sore after today?" He asked you.

You took a look at them and realized that they were starting to get warm. "I guess it would be nice, they are starting to get a bit red."

"Just wait a bit so I can take a shower."

"Alright," you answered.

Shikamaru was done in maybe 5-10 minutes. It didn't feel that long to be honest. And you didn't blame him, a nice shower was nice after physical activity but you didn't have that chance. Though the light drizzle from the rain cooled you down a bit.

"You're ready?" He asked from behind you.

You nodded.

"You know, the teachers won't notice if you slow it down a bit."

"I don't want to slow down, I need to catch up what I've lost and then more."

"You're weird."

He was perhaps right, but being weird isn't that bad.

The rain was starting to pour down stronger now, but you didn't mind and it didn't look like it affected him either.

You were almost there, you could see the forest not too far into the distance.

"Just don't do any sudden movement or any loud noises or else you scare them," he explained.

"Okay."

As you got under the foliage, you got some protection from the weather. And you got a glimpse of them further inside the woods.

Shikamaru put his finger in his mouth and whistled for them, and one after the one several deer started to approach you.

You'd eaten deer meat before, quite tasty, but never seen anyone this close up.

Shikamaru had gotten a bag of seeds from his backpack and was now holding a handful for them to lick up.

"Do you want to try?" he asked, handing you the bag.

You nodded and grabbed it. Then took a handful of seeds in your hand. The animals were a bit wary. Sniffed around, not sure what to do. One of them took a look at Shikamaru and with a subtle nod from him, your hand tingled as it licked up the treats in one go. You grabbed another handful and another one grab the chance. Then one more to feed the last of them, this one had a quite impressive set of antlers.

You took your chance and started stroking his muzzle. He seems to like it judging by its expression. He looked happy at least.

Then he pulled away, what did you do wrong? You looked towards Shikamaru, but he wasn't paying attention to you, he was busy attending to another deer.

Was he going to attack, getting impaled by a ninja deer was not how you wanted to die, but Shika also said you shouldn't scare them.

He got closer and then you could feel his wet tongue running up your cheek. This was quite nice. You could probably quite enjoy this life. But there was a nagging feeling that you should have stood up for your friends the previous day.

-x-

You didn't have to stay in a wheelchair for long. After perhaps a week, you were free to do whatever, declared fully recovered.

Thank you Matatabi you tried sending your thoughts to her. You appreciated her help, you wouldn't be standing here without her, you were just not thankful enough to foolishly release her.

Something was stirring in the bushes, was that blue fur you saw? Or was this just the cat messing with you again? But it wouldn't hurt getting closer. Move slowly towards it to not scare it.

There was nothing there, you crouched and looked closer into the bushes, but nothing. It shouldn't be that hard to notice a blue animal?

You heard rassling again. How did this animal manage to get from bush to bush without you noticing?

You should stop following it, but now you were kind of invested. Just keep sight on the where it could run instead of focusing as much on the bush itself. Sneak slowly towards it like a ninja.

Slowly and steady you approached it, there was no more movement, so this was your chance.

But before you could reach it things started to change around you, your brain getting fuzzy, but you kept on walking till reality snapped back around you. Around you were dirt and stone walls, and yeah, Danzo towering over you.

"If you can't tell an illusion from reality you won't last long," he said.

"They don't teach us that at the academy."

"You should ask your Uchiha friends for help. Though over to other business. I was able to secure you a copy of the seal you wanted and a room. Follow me."

You walked a bit further into the tunnels before Danzo stopped before an empty spot on the wall and placed his hand on it.

A glowing hand later, and a door opened up from nowhere. He then signalled you to get in.

The room was quite large but barren. In the nearest corner was a desk and chair along with shelves of materials. Another one with small boxes with unfilled name tags. Similar to what you have had at home, just scaled up. And a sink to wash your hands and drink if you got thirsty.

"It's quite big," you said.

"Its to confuse attackers so they can't sense which rooms are important and which isn't with earth jutsu alone."

Was that really a concern?

"I'll be back in a few hours," Danzo said and left the room. Leaving no door for you to exit.

Being locked in here was a bit worrying, but Danzo wouldn't attempt anything here. The Hokage wouldn't let him steal a Jinchuuriki and if you disappeared while being down here, Danzo would be the top suspect guilty or not. So this should be the safest place to be in regards to him, right?

You sat down at your desk and noticed the scroll and lighter laying there. Better get to work.

Taking a look at the seal it looked confusing at first. But it was just an illusion. The complexity looked like a result of sloppy sealing or obfuscating. Or perhaps making it take up less space.

It consisted of the normal fire absorption and some trigger mechanism. There was only one fire symbol, but it was used twice. Both to absorb and detect fire.

So in that way, it was a useful construct. Replace the fire with something else and you've done most of the job. But you'd still want to clean it up if you could.

But given that it was your first try, you'd just copy what you'd been given. Though it was annoyingly big if you were to create these en masse.

It took some time getting it down, future attempts would hopefully be much faster.

But what were you going to do now? Did it need any other activation? Better just test it.

With a flick of the lighter, the original scroll activated and swallowed the flame before you could even see anything.

Wait, how did the Hokage light his pipe with this security in place? There might be some other changes to the actual seals used in the office.

You reckoned that if you powered chakra through the detection part, it should work.

You weren't completely sure how much chakra you needed. But that was another part to test out later and how it affected different seals in the different parts of production. So, for now, you poured in a solid chunk.

And lit the lighter again. Not a flame and you could see the trapped fire glowing red inside your own seal.

But as you lit the lighter yet another time, there was no second activation from either scroll, just a burning flame. That was no good. A bunch of small fires could overload any reasonable defence you'd create, in a ninjutsu denial of service attack.

Splitting it into several parts should do the job. Detection, storing and multiple storage cells. You also had to work on getting them out of there again. As they currently looked like they were stuck.

Though back to your own creation.

One step at a time. First, separate the current two interwoven seals and test those properly.

You had no idea how much time you'd spent locked inside. The act of cleaning up the messy seal took forever. With your head yelling at you at almost every step. Forcing you to restart several times as you performed irreversible mistakes.

But in the end, you had something promising. The original fire absorption seal mostly unchanged, bar a few connections to the other part of the seal. Now it was time for another test.

And it worked and you raised your hands in joy.

"Good job," Danzo spoke behind you.

"How long have you been there?" You said and pointed accusingly at him.

"Ten-Fifteen minutes and you didn't notice that I was standing right behind you,"

"I get that you're sneaky bas…" you stopped yourself. No need to insult the man after helping you. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to call you that."

"How do the Hokage light his pipe?" You asked.

"So you noticed that? You can deactivate the seal by the use of chakra. You'd want to remove that part if you want to use it defensively. But that would need to wait for another day. I'll show you how to leave and enter the tunnels."

"Come on, can't I stay a bit longer?" You asked with a pout.

"No."

You got up and followed Danzo out the door.

As you got outside, Danzo touched your back head and you felt a prick.

"It's the key for leaving and entering this place. Try not getting followed and don't disturb anyone else you meet in the tunnels unless they talk to you. Don't go exploring, not that you'll get far without the necessary seals to give you access and perception to see the real layout down here. Don't try to make your own keys and don't study anything you shouldn't. Is that understood?"

"Yes," you said understanding the gravity of the situation. You were probably within the tunnels of Root and he didn't want you sneaking around.

Your status as a JInchuuriki couldn't protect you against everything. An unruly rebellious one could be worse than having none at all. And Konoha had one spare.

"Someone will be here to help you inside your room again tomorrow. You'll get access later."

As you walked further toward the entrance, you noticed what looked like a transparent cloth covering the way forward.

As you moved through it, the landscape around you started to change, instead of the dark stone walls, things became greener around you till you there walking through the trees again. Behind you were the same kind of portal. You better keep a good look at the road home so you could find your way tomorrow.

You were bored already as your home was stripped from any kind of fuuinjutsu supply, why didn't Danzo want you there longer?

-x-

The next day, it was time for your first spar in a long time.

And you were matched up against Kiba.

"Finally Sota, time to prove that I'm the new top student."

You turned towards Iruka. "Sensei, I feel this is is a bit unfair fight. Kiba should get a teammate to make it fair."

You'd practised against Itachi with both one or two shadow clones. You had lost of course but after a while, you could at least put up some defence against him.

"Sota, fight Kiba properly and don't try to show off."

"It's okay for me," Kiba stated. "If he wants to get humiliated even harder. Hinata, will you help me?"

"Alright kids, let's have a lesson on what happens when you underestimate your opponents."

Kiba and Hinata stood on each side of you and as soon as Iruka gave the signal, Kiba charged at you. But you countered by kicking him back. Which Hinata tried to follow up with a punch, an insecure punch that didn't accomplish anything. Their coordination really needed some work.

Your goal was to get both of them on one side of you, which you managed by dragging Hinata out of the way. From there, you were quick to exert enough pressure to push them both out of the arena.

You turned towards Iruka who had an embarrassed look on his face. He clearly wanted you to lose, but he quickly composed himself.

"Good job Sota. Now Kiba, next time you should take your opponent more seriously and not start off bragging. And when choosing a teammate, partner up with someone who can complement your skills, not because you find them cute."

Kiba was too red to give any response.

But you'd have to say it was more fun than usual.

-x-

And talking about fun, it was time to continue working on seals. As you moved back to Danzo's base you made sure that no one was watching your movements. And soon you were back into the tunnels.

A much taller Root agent stood in front of you and took a look at you before moving forward to lead you to your room.

He put his hand on the door and opened it like Danzo did the day before. And again it locked behind you as you walked inside.

It was time to work on your defences. And the process was quite similar to what you did with Kakashi's mask.

And with many repeated attempts to please the voices in your head, you had a seal who should be able to absorb incoming explosions.

You went into the shelves and picked out a normal-sized explosive tag from one of the boxes. It looked like they had brought your previous stash in here.

You took Kakashi's lesson to heart and did not put your trust it untested. You knew that if you put it in near furthest corner, the blast couldn't hit you. So you put both seals in the corner and walked back to your desk.

And after folding your hands into a snake, nothing happened. Which was exactly what was supposed to happen. No explosions. You did it!

You picked up the seals and took a look at it. One had absorbed the explosion of the other. Leaving the original inert with some parts missing but quite intact in fact.

So you couldn't go straight ahead an recharge it without redrawing parts of it. But you should keep it for later study. There were so many obfuscated seals that made dealing with them much harder, but with one element gone, things should be easier.

You had to decide if you should focus on using the stored explosion or increasing the capacity. There was also the question about what would happen if your seal was too small to handle the explosion you gave it.

Before you could make any decision a large plate of food was set besides on you on the desk. Various fruits, some berries and of course dango along with some coloured drink.

You turned to the Root agent who was just standing there, perhaps wondering if there was something other you needed.

"Thank you Root-san," you replied. It was a silly name, but you couldn't make out what his mask was, so this was the second-best option.

You hated to admit it, but it was kind of nice here, maybe there was no reason to fear Danzo after all.

It wasn't too long until Naruto's birthday, a bit more than a month you reckoned. You should think of something to cheer him up with. One thing was seals itself, what if you could embed it in some nicer item, something that you could gift Naruto.

Some sort of blowpipe or flute could work, roll up a scroll of some sort inside a metal canister. Letting Naruto both absorb and shoot fireballs, that couldn't hurt, could it?

It would be a fun project, DIY ninja tools.

The only thing you knew that could help you here was storage seals. And if everything fit logically together, fire absorption seals should share attributes with storage seals, and what's left when taking those out of the picture would be the mechanism to store and expel the items. That should work, right? Better be quick about it if you wanted to test it out before Danzo kicked you out for the night. And before you forget, better stuff your pants with some explosive tags before you leave so you can play with them later on, smaller ones just to be safe.

-x-

Instead of going back underground the next day, you went to one of the nearby training grounds. You were alone, at least for now. You'd no idea how these kinds of things worked and if you had to reserve it or not. And If multiple people wanted to use the same grounds, were you supposed to figure something out together, or just let the lower-ranked yield to the higher-ranked?

Tying tags to the kunai was a bit of a tedious task. Unspool the thread, cut if with the kunai and thread it into both holes before tying a solid knot.

If you ever became a Jounin-Sensei, would you be allowed to delegate menial tasks like this to your cute little genin?

Become Team 7's sensei to save them from Kakashi.

Though if you planned to have someone prepare your equipment, Naruto and Sasuke was probably not the best pick, as they would probably stay far from explosives for a long time.

You lit the fuse of one of the tags and threw the kunai at a poor tree that you had decided would your poor victim for today.

It was not very satisfying, the explosions were small and it was a poor tactic. No one was going to stand still and wait to get blown up. And if you actually hit someone with it, you'd have success, but then the kunai would do the job just as well with little help of the explosive tag.

If you could colour the explosions, it could at least be decent fireworks, but this was nothing.

But you had nothing else to do, so why not just blow them all up. If you waited a bit before throwing, you could bake the explosives, but not worth the risk if something went wrong, even if these wouldn't cause you too much harm.

No, you wanted something safer, but that was a project for the future. So you just picked up another kunai and repeated the process.

It did start to cause some damage to the trunk, but Konoha wouldn't suffer from you destroying some trees.

"Can I try too?" You looked behind you and you could see a little girl face and hands full of bandaids.

"Sure," you replied and picked up a kunai for her. "You channel some chakra into the tag and then throw."

"Thanks," she said and carefully grabbed it. "Name is Tenten by the way."

You probably should have noticed her twin buns, but at the same time, the future 'Weapon Mistress' shouldn't be hurting herself that much. Or was this how she had ended up as good?

She was at least careful with the tag and didn't delay long after lighting the fuse before throwing it.

When it blew up, she let go of a loud squeal.

"Sensei doesn't let me play with these, tells me it's too dangerous," she commented.

"They can be if you're not careful," you replied.

"But I'm older than you, it's not fair that you're allowed but not me."

"I made them myself, and these are weaker than normal. I wanted to be careful, but these are just boring."

"Really? Cool. Can you teach me how? if I make my own, sensei can't tell me that I'm not allowed to use them."

You don't want her safety on your consciousness, and just now you noticed the first-aid bag she had over her shoulder. The familiar red cross was exchanged with a doctor symbol.

Someone should really teach her how to handle sharp objects and not leave her to trial and error.

"You should ask some of the teachers at the academy, they might be able to help you," you said. "Who is this Sensei?"

"Sensei is Sensei, he's an old man who watches over me."

"Yeah, but what is his name?"

"I just told you, he's Sensei. Just like Iruka Sensei or Mizuki Sensei. He's probably their father or something."

You wanted to say something, but that would just make you look like an ass. She was young, thinking that they were all named Sensei was excusable and a bit cute.

"Can I try another one?" She asked.

You nodded back and watched her throw another one with great enthusiasm.

"He's good with weapons, he made this for me," she said and retrieved an unusual kunai. "It's made out of silver so I can defeat ghosts."

"Are you afraid of ghosts?" you asked.

"Not anymore, with this, ghost better be afraid of me," she smiled.

"If you want, you can blow up the rest of the kunai."

"Thanks," she said and hugged you.

"Ouch," you exclaimed as something struct your back.

"Oh sorry, I'm still a bit clumsily with knives, but I'm getting better," she said and grabbed a bandaid to cover the small cut.

"It's fine," you smiled at her and sat down while she had fun with the explosions.

-x-

You were clutching your list of supplies as you walked towards the underground base, no school today, so more time to work. Danzo promised to help you out, but he had yet to really teach you anything. You didn't need that kind of help right now. Just getting some stuff, as long it didn't come with more demands.

"Root-san, could I talk to Danzo?" You asked one of the guards in the tunnel.

"I'll inform him. He'll join you in some hours," they said and opened the door for you.

While you were waiting you picked up your homework. It was boring and pointless, but it needed to be done.

After that, it was back to trying to expel the fire from the seal, as this was a bit harder than you expected. And when Danzo made his presence, you kind of had gotten some progress in the matter.

"What did you want?" He asked you.

"I need some stuff," you said and handed him the list.

He read through it in front of you. "I should be able to help you here, what is it for?"

"Just a weapon I want to try to make, it's supposed to be a gift to someone," you explained.

"I'll see what I can do."

You didn't see him anymore that day.

In the proceeding days, you spent all your time working on it while you were not at school. Danzo had secured you what you needed and the day before your deadline, it was done. Everything worked fine, now you just needed to find Shisui to fill with fireballs.

-x-

It was finally time to sneak through the night like a ninja trying to find Naruto's apartment, and at the same time not making Naruto's ANBU guards suspicious.

You got to his door without any issues and hang a small package on his door handle.

Happy Birthday Naruto

From Sasuke.

That would hopefully work, Sasuke would probably correct Naruto, but at that point, Naruto would already be thankful towards him.

You were glad it was weekend so you could go back to bed.

-x-

October the 10th was far from Naruto's favourite day, it was, in fact, the worst day of the year. Not because anything bad happened, but because people were supposed to be happy on their birthday.

So after he woke up, he picked up some clothes from the floor and got dressed, before leaving his apartment.

As he turned around to look at his door. He noticed the package hanging from the door handle.

He had of course seen this kind of things before but never gotten one himself. Taking a look at a label, Naruto saw Sasuke's name written on it. Without caring about locking his door, he ran towards the Uchiha compound keeping a good grip on his gift like it was the most precious thing he owned.

Running past the guards, ignoring their yells and continued running towards Sasuke as he saw him walking along with Itachi. Before Sasuke could react, Naruto was embracing his classmate in a hug, though thanks to his momentum, both of them fell to the ground.

"Thank you," Naruto mumbled.

"What's going on Naruto?" Itachi asked and lifted the blond boy up from Sasuke.

He just held out his gift so Itachi could see and Sasuke was quick on his legs.

"So are you going to open it?" Itachi asked.

"Oh," Naruto replied and carefully removed the wrapping paper revealing an orange box inside and inside were something looking like a steel flute along with a folded up piece of paper.

He picked it up and looked at it and turned it around.

Uzumaki was engraved on it, along with a small Uzumaki swirl.

"I love it," Naruto exclaimed and put the flute to his mouth. But it wasn't sound that appeared out of it, but a tiny fireball. A warning shot from your end.

"Cool!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"The next one will be bigger so be careful with it, it is not a toy," Itachi said with his nose down in the instruction manual. "You should have about 10 charges, and you can absorb fireball fires at you by sucking instead of blowing the flute. It says it should hold about 20 charges turning over the small instruction manual you've made so he could take a look. It was mostly small pictures of Naruto illustrating its use with some text for clarification.

-x-

"Morning Sota," Itachi greeted you later that day as you were taking run around the village. It was nice to get some sun on your body since you didn't get that much of it underground. And the weather was quite comfortable this time of year as long as it wasn't raining.

"Morning," you replied back.

"So, anything you want to confess?"

"Nope."

"So you don't know who gave Naruto his present?"

You slowed down a bit. "How did he like it?"

"He loved it. So why give it to him in Sasuke's name? Why not your own?" He asked.

"I don't know. I just don't want to."

"Can you try to explain why you don't want to?"

"I'm a bad influence," you said. Meaning you'll probably find some way to mess up his character arc for the worse.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you're a good person."

"Naruto is going to be a hero, save the world, it is his fate. And that won't happen if I mess things up."

"There is no such thing fate Sota, nothing is written in stone. I don't see how you think you'll doom the world by becoming friends with Naruto."

"I want him to be happy, but I don't belong in his life. And its too late now," you said.

"Naruto seems to be a forgiving person, he'll forgive you for rejecting him if you want to be his friend. Sota, you're making a friendship out to be harder than it is, Naruto just wants someone to call a friend," Itachi explained.

"I was thinking if I could help them out a bit, they could be good for each other. Naruto wouldn't be so lonely," you said.

"You're already helping them you know. They got closer to each other during their suspension. They got the push they needed. Naruto seems to be good for Sasuke, he'd be good for you too, just please give him a chance will you?"

"Maybe," you said.

"Then come with me, Naruto is over at our house today."

"I don't know, I don't know what to. I don't want to mess up the future if I mess up stuff I can't see the future anymore."

"Forget about the future, think about the present. Whatever we need to do to save my clan will mess up much more than this. You assume you'll change the future for the worse, perhaps being Naruto's friend will make everything better."

"Okay, I'll come with you."

"Thanks, they're waiting for us,"

-x-

You took off your shoes and entered Itachi's home.

Why did you agree to this?

You could already smell the ramen. Why couldn't you turn around not risk ruining Naruto's day? But behind you were Itachi to push you forward till you were inside the living room.

Naruto turned towards you and gave you a look.

"I'm sorry for rejecting you, will you still be my friend?" You said and closed your eyes, if he rejected you, you'd rather not look at his face.

But he said nothing. Neither a yes or a no.

Though you felt arms embrace you and you could smell the ramen from Naruto.

"I'll be your friend bastard, you don't ignore family you know."

He kept his focus on you and now it was his turn to be nervous, you could feel his head shifting. "I'm sorry me and Sasuke attacked you. I didn't mean to try to kill you. I just thought it would knock you out and you'd be fine. I just wanted to... " Naruto said but lost his words in the end.

"I forgive both of you, I'm okay and stronger than ever," you smiled at him, not that he could see it.

He let you go and you could take a closer look at him. First now, you noticed that Naruto was taller than you. Wait, if you both were six when you got here, and now Naruto was seven. When was your birthday?

"I'm glad you two are finally friends, come and sit Sota so you can get something to eat too," Mikoto said.

Mikoto's ramen was delicious and Sasuke wasn't glaring at you as much as usual, you had no idea why though. Naruto seemed really happy through the day and Mikoto had made delicious dango.

-x-

"Iruka-sensei, I was wondering about something," you said as Iruka was collecting his paper after class.

"Go ahead," he smiled at you.

"When is my birthday?"

"Oh… Let me see," he said and sorted through his papers until he found what he was looking for."

"Ah, December 27th, the same day as Hinata."

"Oh, I'm the youngest in the class. I just thought…" you mumbled.

"Something wrong? Nothing wrong with being the youngest in the class, you're strong, no one dispute that."

"Nothing is wrong, I just hoped I was a bit older. I was at Sasuke's house and celebrated Naruto's birthday with him, so I was just wondering."

"I'm happy to hear that you're friends now. He needs every friend he can get. How are you and Sasuke doing?"

"I don't know, does it matter?"

"I just don't want Naruto to get hurt if things get worse between you two."

-x-

Next time you visited the underground tunnels of Root, Danzo was there waiting for you.

"It's time for me to upheld another part of my promise," he stated as he opened your door.

"Huh?"

"Shadow clones, unless you don't need it anymore?"

"I do, let's start."

"Note that this is a dangerous Jutsu for people your age, trying to teach your classmates this will kill them. Hiruzen won't let you graduate if you murder one of them."

No, that's how you graduate Root. Did he really suggest that he himself didn't care if you did something like that? Hinting to you, hey, if you kill one of them I'm going to bail you out?

"I get it," you replied, rather than Go fuck yourself that would be appropriate if that was his insinuation.

There was no reaction from him. Could he read you and choose to pretend there was nothing sinister behind his words or was there nothing to notice. That's the tricky part of subtle facial expression, no real way for you to notice your own.

What followed was hours of practice, ensuring you didn't accidentally create too many or didn't mess up in other ways. You hate to say it, but Danzo was actually a pretty decent teacher.

When he finally left, you were able to do things your way. You summoned a single clone.

You kind of want to take a good look at yourself. Mirrors could only do so much. You walked around it observing it from every direction.

"Stop doing that, you're making me uncomfortable," your clone said.

You didn't have to listen to your clone. Danzo did put a seal on the back of your neck, so why not study it? You moved your hand to move your clone's hair out of the way.

"I said cut it out!" Your clone yelled at you and punch you.

You clutched your stomach and glared at it.

There was something weird about this clone, it didn't feel like you, even if you understood its actions.

"What happened before we got hit in the head?" You asked, if this was the real Sota hidden inside you, you could finally get answers.

"I don't remember. You know that perfectly well," it answered.

Perhaps not, but it was clearly more temperamental than you. Or perhaps not, it just acted more on its emotions than you did. You couldn't deny that sometimes punching people would be a satisfying act, but that sort of response would lead to all sorts of problems and was simply not right.

Maybe you were asking the wrong questions. Or rather, you were asking questions about the wrong person.

"Who am I?"

"You are me, so why act so strange?" It said.

So you could at least agree that you were strange to each other.

"I'm your clone, doesn't that mean I should be like you?" It asked.

"You should, but you also know that you're a clone, so there is bound to be differences, right?"

"You should ask Danzo, he probably knows."

"I don't think we should, if something is wrong, it's better he doesn't know," you explained.

"If you say so," It paused and rubbed his armed. "I'm sorry I punched you."

"It's okay," you said. This was really going to be weird. And it was clear that you couldn't properly trust your clone, as it perceived people differently than yourself, could it end up betraying you mid-battle too? But why apologize? Based on how Sota had acted in the past, it seems like the other you wouldn't care too much about people holding a grudge against him.

"Can I trust you?" You asked.

"I'm not sure if one can trust anyone, I'm confused. You're telling me that I shouldn't trust Danzo, but why do you act like he can be trusted?"

"I don't trust him."

"Then why are you here locked inside?"

"I can leave whenever I want."

"Then leave," the clone grunted.

You folding your hands and dispelled it.

"Stop messing with my head," you muttered out into the empty room. "I'm in control."

-x-

After finishing the academy the next day, Neji approached you as you were leaving. "You're Sota right, do you mind if we spar?"

"Uhh, okay," you said. It would be good to try yourself against someone other than Itachi for once.

"Follow me."

It wasn't a familiar road through the village, but you hadn't wandered that much around in the last months. After a few minutes, you could see the walls of the Hyuuga compound. Two clan-members standing guard.

"Who is that," one of them asked Neji and pointed at you.

"It's a friend from school, we're going to have a spar," Neji answered.

Friends? But you just meet.

"Don't cause any trouble," one of them told you and before stepping away."

Was this because you were an outsider? Better not overthink this and just follow him to his home.

You took off your shoes and followed him inside. The inside was quite nice looking, similar to Itachi's home. It would make sense that both traditional clans shared the same kind of traditional interior design.

"The Dojo is in here," he said and lead you in another door.

The room was quite spacious and you got in the middle of the room alongside him.

"Ready?" He asked.

You got into a comfortable stance and replied back, "Ready."

Before he did anything else, he activated his Byakugan. It was kind of cheating, but it didn't matter. If you wanted to be strong, you needed to be able to defeat Neji with or without his magic eyes.

He was taller than you, but you couldn't let you be intimidated by the size. He was still a small child, that shouldn't face you.

He let you get in the first blow it seemed like.

But as you tried to hit him, he grabbed your wrist and span around before leaving you flying.

You managed to land on all four and quickly got on your feet again.

But this was no turn-based combat, there was no pause for you, he went on charging at you. Your only chance here came from the fact that Neji had a limited skill-set. You were not facing a 13-year-old Neji with Kaiten and a gentle fist, but an 8-year-old still early in his training.

But no matter your attempts, he was quicker than you and whatever attack you launched his eyes could see and counter it. But he had still not managed to immobilize you back.

Time to play dirty. Forming the clone seals, you summoned nine helpers.

Neji's eyes widen by the sight of ten of you. But he quickly gained composure. His defence was not good enough. Of the nine clones charging at him, he managed to stop three of them. But the remaining six got him to the ground and you were prepared to step in if he dispelled any more. But every limb was held down by at least one clone.

"Good work, no wonder why you're…" but you couldn't hear the last part.

As you dispelled your clones, your vision turned black and you hit the floor.

-x-

"You finally decided to meet me again, I thought you had forgotten about me," Matatabi asked you as soon as you entered her mindscape.

"I don't know how to visit you," you explained to her.

"But did you try?" She asked, her eyes looking straight at you.

"I guess I didn't," you had to admit.

"And what about Tenten and Shikamaru, why have you neglected them. They're easier to visit than me?"

"We only meet up once, we're not really friends?"

"That's just what you like telling yourself. It's too late now, they'll just see you as an untrustworthy friend who never bothers to spend time with them," she said.

"It doesn't matter, I don't need them as friends," you told her, you had others.

"And then Itachi and Shisui, you're spending less and less time with them."

"I've been busy studying and I guess they've been busy too."

"But the one man you shouldn't trust, you're getting closer to. What fucked up kid are you?"

"I don't trust Danzo, I know he's up to no good, but he's my only path to graduate and get stronger."

"You know there is another part to get stronger?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"I can help you, I help my friends, unlike certain rotten kids."

"I'm not rotten!" You cried out.

"I can help you become a better friend too unless you want Itachi and Shisui to abandon you too?"

"I don't," you replied.

"Admitting you've got a problem is the first step to fixing them Sota. You seem to struggle with thinking everyone has a hidden agenda and is trying to trick you," she said.

"What if they are?" You asked because you were certain she had a hidden agenda.

"You're a paranoid Sota, this is your exact problem!" She yelled at you.

"I'm sorry."

She visibly sighed. "Why don't we do a simple trust exercise?"

"Huh?"

"Touch the seal. It's completely safe, they wouldn't secure me with a seal that would break with a simple touch, would they?"

"You're right," you replied.

If you wanted to be her friend you needed to show some goodwill towards her. Put some trust in her. Naruto touched the seal guarding the Kurama's gate without any issues. You said you were going to be her friend, you're going to do it. Not due to some silly nindo, but rather your refusal to get one-upped by a cat, no matter how big.

You stepped forward towards the gate. Water started to rise below your feet lifting you up closer to it.

You put your hand on the piece of paper, careful to not channel any chakra into it in the process.

"See not that difficult kid. Now grab the corner of the seal," she suggested.

Why did the stupid cat have to trick you at every point? No, you weren't going to call her out on that.

"I'm afraid I'll slip and accidentally tear it off," you excused yourself.

"Very well, that's understandable. Just know you've been lied to. You won't die if you release me, you'll only die if I'm being forcefully extracted from you."

More lies, but no reasons to call her out on that. Be friendly with her and maybe she'll be friendly back with some work.

But just as you feared, you lost your footing and you started to fall. The water was gone, same with Matatabi.

-x-

It was like your body was hitting the ground, but that was just reflexes in your body.

"How are you?" You heard someone ask you.

Opening your eyes you saw a familiar face. "Oh, Hiashi," you exclaimed. It was a bit of a surprise that he was here, but it was nice that his relationship with his nephew wasn't that bad at this point. "I was just overdoing it with shadow clones, but I'm fine."

"Oh, you must have mistaken me from my brother. I'm Hizashi, Neji's father. Nice to meet you."

"How are you?" You heard someone ask you.

Opening your eyes, you saw a familiar face. "Oh, Hiashi," you exclaimed. It was a bit of a surprise that he was here, but it was nice that his relationship with his nephew wasn't that bad at this point. "I was just overdoing it with shadow clones, but I'm fine."

"Oh, you must have mistaken me from my brother. I'm Hizashi, Neji's father. Nice to meet you."

"How?"

He just looked confused

"You're not supposed to be… alive," you muttered.

"Someone may wish me dead, but I ensure you that I'm perfectly alive," he said.

"I'm sorry,"

Hizashi began to untie his forehead protector and the cage bird seal was revealed.

It was no surprise to you, but you were no less drawn to green ink on his forehead.

Unprompted he began to tell. "It is what separates me from my brother, our chains, the main house's way to control us."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I've heard that you're on the way to becoming a seal master. Think about how your power is being utilized. It may be used on your loved ones. If I could find a way to remove the seal from Neji, I would, damn what the rest of the clan think."

Was he asking you for help? Could you even help him? One thing was for sure, Neji deserved better, much better than his previous life.

"Don't worry, I'll never use what I learn to hurt the people," you smiled at him.

Judging by the smile you got back, it seemed like he approved.

-x-

"Follow me, Danzo told you as you entered the tunnels the next day.

You were lead to a new door, it would be the second room you'd visited down here, ignoring the toilets.

He opened it and motioned for you to step in before him. The room was as big as your own, so perhaps there was some truth in his claim that every room was the same size.

Based on the floor, you could see it was set up like an arena. In one end stood a masked Root member gazing out, looking at no one.

"What do you want?" You asked Danzo.

"I want you to fight him," he said and held out a short tanto.

"I don't know how to use it."

"Improvise. Draw blood and don't get hit. As you're a beginner, they'll go easy on you."

The Root agent drew his sword, a much longer katana, with a blade 3-4 times longer than yours. What was he thinking? The blade was longer than your arm. The one thing you knew about any kind of melee combat, reach was king and you had none.

"No, I cannot do it, I'll only get hurt!" You exclaimed. It was time to take back control and not let Danzo push you around.

"Very well, I'll tell the Hokage that you're not ready. I had hope in you, but that was misplaced. Forget about graduating anytime soon."

"What?!" You called out.

"You cannot avoid a mission because you fear pain. You're not ready."

No… That was not the plan. Getting kicked out of here and be stuck in the academy for years would not be fun. Even if you could find a safe place to talk to Itachi within the village, this was not good.

"I'll do it," you grabbed the sword from Danzo. You didn't want to, but what choice did you have?

You took a closer look at your opponent. It was worse than it first looked like. He was outfitted with the standard ANBU protective wear, which severely limited where you could hit them. You were completely exposed, i.e. fucked. But you had to try. You were shorter than them and their legs were exposed so there was some chance.

If Danzo's goal was to make you hate him, he wasn't doing a bad job.

"No ninjutsu, seals or similar. Only your sword and your body."

You held the sword in front of you as far as you could. There was no sign that you should start, your opponent just walked slowly towards you. You had no idea what to do. Try to block it and counter, maybe?

Before you could reach the sword were right in your face. It cut right above your nose bridge, similar to the familiar scar on Iruka.

Fuck, how could you deal with this speed? To avoid getting hit in the face for real, you put the sword in front of your face to block the next hit.

But your opponent went for your exposed forearm this time.

"Fuck", it wasn't deep, but you clutched it with your left arm to limit the bleeding. You had to think fast. He was to fast to block, you needed to dodge.

You rolled to the side to get out of his immediate striking range and and to take advantage of your smaller size.

You had to put some distance between you and rethink your approach, so you ran towards the other side of the room. But you didn't get far before you could feel the blade slicing across your back.

"Auch!" You cried out falling to your knees. What the hell could you do? Even standing up would just give them a chance strike again.

But sitting there wasn't the solution either, as you got hit in the back again.

"Stand up," Danzo commanded you.

You had to do it, you got on your feet and turned towards the Root-agent again.

The tip of their sword was already coloured by your blood, and you knew it wouldn't end yet. You couldn't reach them, but maybe you didn't have to. As quick as you could without revealing the plan, you hurled your tanto towards their legs.

Before you could react to the situation, they had reached down and grabbed it by the handle. Perfect execution without touching the spinning blade.

"Fuck…" This was your chance and now you were without a weapon.

They quickly threw it back at you, handle hitting your forehead perfectly. It hurt, but it could have been a lot worse.

Before you could think about your next move, you felt the blade hitting your arm again. Still shallow cuts, but it hurt nevertheless.

You ducked down and tried kicking your sword away from them so you could grab it easier. Though you were welcomed by a kick in your guts sending you a few feet away.

He stepped on the handle of your sword, making it even harder for you to retrieve it.

You could see through this trick, there was no need for you to go after it while being guarded like this. If you stepped away from him the Root would follow. You had to stop thinking about this as a sword fight, it was a game. A cat playing with his prey, and you were the small mouse in this scenario.

The cat released you only to chase you again. So how could you take advantage of this?

You did as you tried earlier and ran towards the other end of the room. Again you were struck down, but you tried to keep the pain away and just got up and ran again, but this time in a different direction. You needed to clear the path between you and your blade so you could try to win this.

You were hopeful as you were approaching it without getting hit. But out of nowhere, your opponent was in front of you, striking once in front of your face without hitting anything, but instinctively you put your arms in front of your face to block and on the next hit, the pain gave away your mistake pretty fast.

"Aaah!" You cried out. This was hopeless, there was only one thing to do.

"I give up!" you called out to be sure Danzo heard you.

"There is no giving up in a real fight, continue."

"Please, keep me from graduating if you want, I cannot do this."

"You're not getting out of here before you win. If you're incapable of fighting, you'll be patched up in here till you can give it another chance."

What did he want from you? You would get curb stomped no matter what.

Thinking back to your spars, was there anything you could do?

Wait there was, against Itachi you used the walls to your advantage.

Working through your pain you ran towards the closest wall and began to climb it till you reached the ceiling. You couldn't say for sure, but it looked like your opponent couldn't hit you without getting up here themselves. You could use this.

You moved right above where your sword was lying and then sat there for a moment. For the first time in the match, your opponent let you breathe properly. But as you got a bit more relaxed, the pain started to surge again.

"Please, let this plan work…" you muttered under your breath.

Your opponent got tired of waiting and picked up your tanto. "Fuck"

With a flick of their wrist, they threw it at you.

But you were high enough up to gain some reaction time. With your right hand, you tried to grab it as it reached you. You were aiming for the handle but hit the blade. It dug into your hand and your grip quickly loosened. You had to react quickly to grab it with your other hand before you drop it to your hand. You were bleeding profusely and trying to close your grip only lead to surges of pain, but you pushed through it. You had your sword back, but you were set back further than when you started. You were still crap with your left arm. Your disadvantage was just getting worse.

You were not safe up there, you hadn't noticed that the Root agent had jumped into the air to hit your leg before the sword had dug into your body and you were falling back down.

It was not a smooth fall. Despite the floor being made out of dirt, it hurt badly.

The longer you fought the weaker you became. Trying to stand up was a challenge in itself now with your leg.

There was only one thing left, one final move of desperation. You picked out your target, hit upper leg was your best shot.

Taking a heavy breath in, steeling yourself against the pain, letting the adrenaline do the job and charge at them. It didn't matter that you were left completely open, they'd hit you no matter what. Being evasive was hopeless, it was impossible to be on the defensive when you couldn't even see the attack coming. No, you had to be on the offensive.

You felt no pain as you closed in on them. You were too focused to be bothered by that. You had overcome pain, now you need to overcome your opponent.

You were close enough you were for sure, your eyes on their leg and with your best of your ability to strike them. You couldn't impact as much force with your left arm, but when you saw the tiny drop of blood at the end of your sword, you knew it was enough, it was over, you had won.

Then the pain came back, your stomach hurt like hell. You looked down only to see the Katana impaling your stomach. Everything hurt more and more and you were now unable to stand on your injured leg. You slid down the sword and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

-x-

When you wake up again the pain was unbearable. The floor was wet, from your blood perhaps?

You lied down on the ground so your injured leg could rest on the other.

"Good evening Sota, I almost feel bad for you if it wasn't for the fact you asked for it."

Why did the stupid cat always have to behave like this?

"I didn't ask for this, I didn't want this to happen," you muttered back, hoping her stupid giant ears would hear you despite your reduced volume.

"Danzo gave you the choice to back out, and you didn't take it. So I'd say you just deserve what coming at you."

"Everything hurts, please help me," you cried.

"I'm not sure if you deserve any help. If I bail you out from any stupid decision will you ever learn? I warned you against Danzo, but did you listen?"

"I'm sorry, just please," you mumbled.

"I wonder if the others have to deal with such an impossible kid like you."

"I feel like I'm dying, why am I still injured in here, I wasn't last time?" You asked.

"You're not dying, you're too important for them for that. You know you're injured this time, that's why you're injured in here. I guess I'll help you."

"Really?" you said picking your head up and looking at her.

"I might have been a bit too harsh on you, but I do it because I care, a good friend doesn't let their friend commit the same mistakes over and over again. I'll push some of my chakra into you, you'll feel a bit of a tug and then you need to draw on it as your seal prevent me from using my chakra without your consent."

"Thanks,"

"I'll bring you back in a moment, you'll feel something in a few seconds."

-x-

Gone were the lake and Matatabi, and you were now on a bed somewhere underground you guessed.

There was no feeling of bleeding, just cloth pressing upon your body and the same pain as before, though a bit subdued. You had been patched up and given new clothes by the looks of it.

You looked down to see if you could see your midriff. If that bastard put you into the root clothes…

But he didn't, everything was well covered by your black shirt and while your black pants looked like something from the uniform, it wasn't that bad.

The tug Matatabi promised sprung to form inside you, and as she instructed, you began to pull it through your body. The pain immediately began to reside and was replaced by a soft pleasing feeling. The more you pulled on it the better everything became, and you saw a blue cloud forming around you followed by shouting. She was a good cat after all.

You continued to pull on her chakra for a few more seconds before something hit your forehead and everything shut down. The good feeling got replaced by pain again, but you could feel some noticeable changes.

You stared at the Root in front of you. They may have thought that she was trying to escape, and put a seal on you, but they were wrong, she just wanted to help you. Or perhaps they knew and didn't want her to help you, but rather that you stayed in pain?

The Root agent left you again to you and your aching body.

But you weren't alone for long as soon after Danzo appeared in your vision.

"You're awake I see," he said. "I'm disappointed by your horrible performance, I had expected more of you."

You glared up at him.

"But still you passed. I hope to see more effort from you in the future. Is that clear?"

You continued staring.

"Is that clear?" He repeated with a raised voice.

"Yes," you got out.

"Very well, your teachers have been informed that you're not able to attend your classes while you're recovering. You will not be served food before tomorrow. Failure has consequences."

With that, he left you again.

You should stay away Danzo. Everyone was seeing that apart from you, even your clones realized it. If you could just figure out another way to study Fuuinjutsu, you didn't need him anymore.

Now you just needed to wait here till you got let out again. Your stomach was rumbling at the same time as it was hurting from the impaling.

But there wouldn't be any food today, and there was nothing to pass time with, so you just had to try to rest. Ignore the pain, ignore the hunger, and just try to sleep.

You were tossing around in your bed for what felt like hours. Things weren't getting better, just worse.

"Sota," you heard someone whisper to you. Your nostrils picked up the smell of food from behind and you rolled around to see who it was.

Another Root was crouching down at you holding out a bowl filled with meat and vegetables in some sort of broth. It smelled nice, that was enough for you.

"I'm not allowed this, but I couldn't watch you suffer like this. Just please don't tell Danzo anything, it will get me in real problems."

"Don't worry, I'm not telling on you," you smiled at them.

"Do you need help to eat or are your hand better now?"

You tried stretching your fingers in and out, things did seem better.

"I'll try on my own," you said and grabbed the chopsticks and began eating. But it didn't go so well. Your grip locked up, and you dropped both the food and the sticks. The Root was quick to grab them before they hit the dirty floor.

Getting feed was a bit embarrassing, but you just had to accept it. It was tasty, and you felt bad when you had to stop eating.

"I'm full, thanks for the food," you told them.

"You know, if there is something you want to talk about you can ask me. Your secret is safe with me, I cannot tell on you without implicating myself."

"What's your name?" You asked them.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

"Can I see your face?" You then asked.

"We're not allowed to reveal ourselves without permission, I'm sorry."

It was worth a shot. There was much that bothered you. And they seemed nice.

"I'm unsure about Danzo, I feel I shouldn't come back to this place."

"Why is that?" They asked.

"Today, I thought I was going to die. I did my best but all I did was to make Danzo unhappy. I just fear everything will get worse and I should get out while I can."

"Danzo can be a bit harsh I know, but it's a valuable lesson. He should perhaps just go about it in another way though. I remember well the first time I thought I was going to die. Bad intelligence put me up against a much stronger enemy, but thanks to Danzo I was prepared. I had dealt with the stress before and managed to figure a way to cope with such a situation and get out alive. I did lose the fight in the end but managed to keep standing till reinforcement arrived, it ended with us winning. If that had been the first time I'd experienced that kind of dread and hopelessness, I wouldn't be alive now. You may be lucky and never experience something like that yourself, but it is better to be prepared than to depend on luck, don't you think?"

"I guess you have got a point," you said. "But why a sword, I don't see how that will complement my skills very well."

"It's not about the weapon, but throwing you at deep waters. Though it wouldn't hurt learning a bit, even if you're not using swords yourself, it will make it easier to face off swordsmen later on."

"I'm not sure, I'm not sure how comfortable I'm with them after this."

"You better not let Danzo hear that, or he'll push you to you are comfortable. But don't worry, your secrets are safe with me."

"Thanks."

"Things will get better from here on and I'll keep a watch over you, okay?"

"I guess."

"Good, I have to leave now."

Things were going in your direction, Matatabi seems to have turned around and become more helpful, and you've gained yourself an ally. Danzo was still an ass though.

-x-

You had managed to hide your injuries from your class, now was the time to see your friends again.

"Sota, you're alright?" You turned your head towards Shisui.

"Yeah, I'm fined," you responded.

"What happened there?" He pointed to the bandaids on your nose.

"Nothing happened."

"Nothing?" He asked. You didn't like the look on his eyes and you couldn't exactly decipher it. Worry was the obvious guess, but there was more than that, and it bothered you that you couldn't read him. Was he annoyed by you?

"I can't tell," you replied.

"Fine…" Shisui paused. "Do you want to come over, Itachi is trying out some new dish he learnt on a mission?"

"Sure," you said and followed him.

-x-

As you took off your shoes and put your slippers, your limbs were starting to hurt a bit and your bandages were getting uncomfortable.

Inside the door, you could smell Itachi's cooking. If it tasted as good as it smelled, you could understand why Itachi wanted to share his experience.

Before you could greet Itachi, Shisui was dragging you into the bathroom.

"Off with your jumper," Shisui commanded.

"Why?"

"I saw the bandages," he stated.

You sighed and took off your jumper and your t-shirt. Exposing your upper body.

"Wait here a bit."

Why did he have to see this?

A moment later he was back with a first-aid kit and some other stuff under his arm.

"Do you have bandages other places too?"

"Yes, on my legs," you said.

"Alright, off with your pants too.

You obeyed him, there was no use protesting.

"I'm going to take off your bandages and clean your scars, okay?"

"Okay,"

It wasn't really a question, he quickly began to unravel the white cloth. It was a nice feeling to get the constricting bandages off and get some air on your skin.

You could finally scratch your itching skin.

"Be careful, don't scratch your wounds, okay?"

You nodded.

"What's going on here?" Itachi asked from the door.

"Take a look at him," Shisui said.

"Oh…"

"I'm sure you've seen this before lots of times on the battlefield," you said.

"Usually we don't need to hit our opponents this many times to take them down," Shisui answered for both of them.

"My sensei," Itachi tried to say.

"Your sensei was a sick fuck that enjoyed hurting you, there was a reason your father made sure you'd never see him again. Itachi, how many of his lessons have you given Sota?" Shisui asked.

"A few, Sota was fine, mostly," Itachi said.

Shisui sighed. "Just stop it right, don't do anything towards Sota you wouldn't do against Sasuke, okay Itachi?"

Itachi nodded.

-x-

The next day was the first time you had seen Genma in a long time.

"Hi Sota, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. But remember what you promised me?" You asked him.

"No…" he replied.

'Senpai' you motioned with your mouth.

"Are you sure that you've gotten better than me already?"

"Maybe," you replied. To be fair, you had no idea how good he really was and you felt your progression hadn't been that good. But it was fun to tease him.

"Alright Senpai, the Hokage wants to see you, do you want me to follow you?"

"It's okay," you replied and walked towards the tower.

But someone was following you.

"I said you didn't need to follow me," you turned to him.

"I'm going the same way anyway, so why not walk together?"

"So it wasn't really a choice, just you being polite?"

"You can say that yes."

"Do you know why the Hokage wants to talk to me?"

"Not really. So how exactly is your Fuuinjutsu going?

"I'm working on it, though I guess I lack a bit of inspiration. It is hard to scale things up as the bigger some seals get the more space is taken just for the connections, and I still don't know how to store attacks efficiently. Do you have any ideas?"

"Is senpai asking me for advice?"

"Come on," you said back.

"You started it by being a brat. But no, I don't have any idea what you're working with even. You just need to be patient. You're still quite young, you've plenty of time to get better in the future. Just improve on what you can improve on."

"I guess you're right. I just feel I need to be prepared. I'm going to be genin soon and need to be able to defend myself properly."

"You're just seven, sure it isn't a bit too early?"

"Six, when did you graduate?"

"I was about ten-year-old I think. You're not going to be dealing with missions that are too dangerous for you. If everything goes to plan. You could all be sleeping during your first battle and your sensei should be able to deal with any threat easily."

"I would hope to be useful on my team and not just holding them back,"

"Part of being a genin is to learn, so don't worry too much about now being able to contribute, okay?"

"Okay."

As you got to the reception outside the Hokage's office, Genma walked up to the secretary "guarding" the office.

"You can go inside, the Hokage is ready for you," the secretary told you.

You nodded and walked into the office.

"Nice to see you Uzumaki, sit down please."

You felt a bit exposed in the chair. Was this the first time you meet this man? You and Naruto were both Jinchuuriki, but it kind of felt like the two of you were treated quite differently.

"Now, I understand you've been training with Danzo for the last months, has everything gone fine?" The Hokage asked you.

Not at all, but you couldn't tell the him that.

"Yes," you answered.

"Have you been threatened or forced into doing something you've not wanted to do?"

"No," you lied.

"I heard you got injured again, what happened?" He asked.

"I was practising sword fighting against one of Danzo's agents."

"You seemed to be hit quite a lot, why didn't you quit earlier?"

"I…" what could you say. You did not want to piss of Danzo. He might get a slap on the wrist for doing this to you, but you wouldn't get away that easily.

"I wanted to win. If I were a jounin defending my genin, I couldn't just run away, I would have to stay put defending them till the end."

"Very well. Seems like my worries were unfounded. Just one last thing, how are you doing with your dental hygiene, do you remember to brush morning and evening?"

What a weird question coming from the Hokage, but you just had to deal with it.

"I might be a bit sloppy sometimes," you admitted. Electrical toothbrushes was another thing you missed in this world.

"Let me take a look," he said.

"You don't have to, I'm fine."

"I insist," he said and walked up to you. "Open your mouth."

In his right hand, he was holding a metal rod that he used to look around.

"Hmm, it doesn't look too bad."

Then from nowhere, you felt a strong pricking on your tongue and you flinched back a notch.

"I'm sorry, my hands aren't always as steady as they once were."

"It's okay," you replied.

"I guess there is no reason to hold you back anymore then, off you go."

That night you made sure to spend extra long with your nightly brushing. It was not the start of a new habit, just a temporary arrangement after being judged on your teeth.

And within the white foam, you noticed something black on your tongue. You filled your mouth with water to clear out any toothpaste.

You stuck your tongue out to see better, and right in the middle was a black X. He tricked you, he wasn't worried about your dental hygiene, of course, he wasn't. He used the opportunity to put a fucking seal on you.

There was only one person who could help you now, and you hated to say it, but you really had to see Danzo now.

-x-

You had told the Root-agent that you wanted to see Danzo, claiming it was important, as in couldn't wait till tomorrow important. So now all you needed to do was to wait.

You might have exaggerated, but you were technically a child and should be given a pass. You were shivering a bit inside your room. You hadn't thought about getting properly dressed before leaving, thus still in your t-shirt. Perhaps you should bring some more clothes down here for situations like this? It was getting colder and colder outside, so ensuring warm clothes were important.

But at last, you saw something moving on the wall, and you really hated to admit it, but you were kind of glad to see Danzo now.

"So what's wrong?" He asked.

You struck out your tongue to show him.

"Hiruzen?" he asked.

You nodded.

"What does it do?" You asked.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Can you remove it?

"I need to see the Hokage about it first, now go home."

"Is it doing something bad?"

"Probably," Danzo replied.

That was all the answers you could get tonight, no need to keep Danzo awake any more. Not that that bastard slept, anyway.

Today was a close call, you almost lost to Sasuke. Bad sleep and anxiousness did that to you.

You wanted, no you needed to know what the damn seal was doing to you.

You should perhaps do something constructive while you waited for Danzo, but all you wanted now was to rest your head on your desk and just wait.

You had almost fallen asleep as you noticed the door open.

"Sit up," Danzo commanded. "I've talked to Hiruzen, and got some answers."

"Oh?"

"He claims it was to prevent me from putting my seals of my own on you," Danzo explained.

"He's lying, right? Or else he would just have told me?"

"Yes. Don't let yourself get fooled by his old grandfather facade. You seem to have a good sense of judgement, trust that."

"I will," you replied. You could of course not trust Danzo either, but that didn't mean everything he said was false. It was your logic that brought you to the conclusion that Hiruzen was lying, not Danzo. "You can remove it right?"

"It will take me some time."

"Thanks, can you teach me how to remove seals?" You asked.

"No."

"Why?"

"The Hyuuga would try to have you killed if you go around removing the caged bird seal," Danzo said.

Did he know about your talk with Hizashi?

"I wasn't thinking about that, I just want to learn," you replied.

"Perhaps when you show you can be trusted."

He couldn't stop you from trying on you own, you should be sure to observe him when he'd be trying to remove that on your tongue.

-x-

"Sota let me talk to you a bit," Shisui asked you as you were walking down the road to your apartment.

"What is it?" you glanced up at him.

"Can we sit down for a moment?" He asked and pointed to a nearby bench.

You nodded and sat down alongside him.

"I know it is your birthday tomorrow, but a mission came up. It will be me and my father, it is a chance for us to get closer again, we've fallen a bit out in the last years. So this isn't a chance I want to give up. But Itachi will be here and make your birthday a great time."

Looking at his face you weren't sure what to think. You had an ugly feeling about this. Like something was not right. You were watching his calm breath being made visible in the cold winter air. Happy wasn't the right word to describe his face. Determined, no... Reading faces was not easy. You were left just watching him till you could find the right words.

"Be careful," you finally said as the first flakes of snow hit his face.

He smiled at you and folded an arm around you. "Don't worry, missions rarely go wrong, both I and my father are strong enough to handle this."

"Just get home safely will you?" You looked up at him.

"You almost worry about me more than Itachi does. Keep a watch on him that he doesn't do anything stupid will you?"

You nodded and just sat there and watched the snow falling for a while before he had to get going. The snow was beautiful, but it could also be a detriment for a ninja. You could just hope you were overreacting.

-x-

Today was your birthday, becoming seven wasn't a big thing, it wasn't even your first time becoming seven years old.

Outside the snow had made a thick layer, so you better look for some decent clothes. You were pretty sure someone had shipped a box of winter clothes not too long ago.

Scarf, a woollen hat and gloves should do, you didn't want to get too overheated. Along with some decent shoes.

The cold wind hit your face as you left your apartment. Should you go and visit Itachi already or wait till he got you, you didn't want to ruin any surprise if he had planned one.

Genin was running around shovelling snow away from people's front yard. Would you even be doing stuff like that when you graduated?

A snowball hit your back, and as you turned around you were grabbed into a hug.

"Happy Birthday Sota," Itachi greeted you.

"Thanks," you muffled through his embrace.

"Come with me, I've something I want to show you."

You walked together to the Uchiha compound but not to Itachi's house, but instead, you arrived at a snow cave.

"What do you think? I felt it could be fun and we get more privacy than at home with mother and father."

You may be a child now, but you couldn't say you had that childish joy inside where snow caves were super exciting. It would be better if you could just stay inside and be warm. But you were going to be a ninja very soon, you couldn't complain about the cold or Danzo would dump you naked into an icy river till you got used to it.

"It's nice."

"I'm glad you liked it, just keep your shoes on no need to take them off here," he said and entered inside.

Inside you could see a smiling Naruto stirring into a pot. Taking a look at his clothing it became apparent that it was much hotter inside than you first realized, so you took off your jacket and joined Naruto in sitting there in your t-shirt.

"Harry Birthday," Naruto said and walked up to you and hugged you.

"Thanks Naruto," you replied.

"So who of you want some hot chocolate?" Itachi asked.

"Me!" Naruto called out with his hand stretched out.

Here you go, Itachi said and filled a cup from the pot who was hanging over the fire.

"I'd take one too thanks," you said.

A short moment later Itachi handed you your cup before serving himself.

"How does it feel being seven years old?"

"Like being six, I don't feel any different," you replied.

"So, do you want to open your gifts?" Itachi asked, "Or do you want to wait for later?"

"Let us start now," Naruto said.

"Naruto, shouldn't we let Sota decide?" Itachi smiled at him.

"Oh... Sorry Sota."

"That's fine Naruto, we can start now."

Naruto grabbed something from behind him and handed to you.

An envelope with "Happy Birthday Sota" written on it with some sloppy kana, but this wasn't the time to help Naruto with his writing.

"Open it!"

"Patience Naruto," Itachi said.

You carefully opened the flap on the end, as ripping it open could destroy the content. And then grabbed the content out from it.

Inside were multiple gift cards for dango.

"Thanks Naruto, I love it," you said.

"I'm glad you liked it," he smiled and got up to give you another hug. "I was going to give you some for Ramen, but Itachi told me I should give you a gift based on what you liked and not what I liked. He's pretty smart you know."

"Itachi can be stupid sometimes, or at least that's what Shisui tells me."

Naruto started to laugh.

"That's not a nice way to act towards someone who's hosting your birthday party," Itachi said in a round of mock hurt before laughing at his joke. He really was a cute kid at this point, as he had not yet started to grow out his hair. Further cementing his more innocent look.

"Don't worry Itachi, we both know that Shisui is the stupid one."

"All is forgiven, here this is from me," he said and handed you a larger box.

You set it on the ground and opened it. Inside was a dark green bag, or was it brown? A bit hard to hell.

"It's for your sealing equipment. Open up and you can see."

It was easy to open and close, it looked like the strap was held in place with a small magnet.

And inside you could see what Itachi meant. it had multiple square compartments to put stacks of sealing tags or scrolls.

"I like it," you said.

"Thanks, there is even some blank pieces of paper and room for ink and a brush in the top in case you need to do some on the fly stuff.

"Thanks," you smiled at him.

"Shisui left you a package too, he said it was something he had found while on a mission," Itachi said and handed you another box.

On the top, there was a letter taped to it, you took it and started to read.

"Happy Birthday Sota,

I'm sorry I can't be there for you, but Itachi and Naruto be there with you I hope. Given that I wrote this before I left, I can't say for certain, but everything is good and well with me and my father. Our trip to our destination was uneventful and nothing unexpected happened. Or at least I hope, I can tell you more when I'm back.

My gift might not be as practical as Itachi's, but I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless. On a mission near Hidden Stone, I encounter a ninja who used small clay golems for defences in a cave he hid in. I don't know how these work, but I'm sure you can work it out. There is also a book on clay working that I hope can be of use.

Now I've to go back to the mission as my father is waiting for me, have fun and tell Itachi to not worry about me. All is fine here."

"Shisui should know that writing in a letter in advance won't stop me from worrying."

"He'll be fine Itachi," you said. "Most missions are pretty safe, aren't they?"

"Nothing is ever completely safe, but yes, everything should be fine if everything goes after the plan. So you'll have nothing to fear about becoming a genin."

"You're becoming a genin already?" Naruto asked, his eyes getting big.

"Yes, that's the plan. I and Sasuke will take an exam in a few days to see if we're ready. And if I pass, I'll get to be a real ninja and will start doing missions."

"What kind of stuff, saving princesses and visiting new places?" He asked.

"No, as a fresh genin you'll mostly do different chores around the village till you can show that you can work together as a team and follow orders properly," Itachi explained.

"That sounds so boring, I thought ninja got to do fun stuff," Naruto pouted.

"Haven't you seen all the genin shovelling snow around today?" You asked him.

"Yeah…" Naruto muttered before taking another look at the present from Shisui. "What's inside?"

"Let me see," you said and opened up the lid. Inside was as promised several clay figurines which you put on the ground in front of you. The promised book, 'Working With Clay' with rusty brown stains. And even a bow and some arrows he forgot to mention in his letter. Attached to it was another note.

"I got a nice idea I want to show with this when I'm back ツ." You read for the others to hear.

"Why did he give you those clay things?" Naruto asked.

"It is so I can learn from them and maybe do something useful with it, ninja stuff."

"Oh, is it similar to this flute I got from Sasuke," Naruto asked and pulled up the gift you've given him. He had it tied around his neck like a lucky amulet, which was normally hidden under his t-shirt. "I can use it to blow fire like Itachi, it's the best thing ever."

"Yeah, it's kind of like that," you said.

"Cool, so you can make those clay men breathe fire?" He asked making a blowing expression.

"That sounds like a good idea. I'll try," you replied.

"Tell me if you need any help Sota," Itachi offered.

"I will."

"Now that the gifts are over with, do you want to play something," Itachi asked and held out a deck of card.

"Yeah!" Naruto said. "We can play 'Hidden Spy'"

"Shouldn't Sota get to decide Naruto?"

"It's fine with me," you replied.

It was a fun but simple game. It was about creating multiple pairs with the cards while avoiding being left with a foreign spy as the last card in your hand. You could be left with your own spy as the last card, but that didn't matter.

It was overall a fun day, later Itachi surprised you with ramen which made Naruto quite happy, with a solid amount of dango as snacks afterwards. Now it was just waiting for Shisui to come home.

-x-

On the way to the academy next day it was raining and much of the snow had disappeared through the night. Typical snow, it stayed for a day before going away.

You hurried to the academy, not wanting to get too wet. When you arrived in the classroom most of the others had already arrived and there wasn't long till the last students joined you, Naruto included.

"Good morning children. Today will be a bit different you'll have your first written exam. Don't worry kids. The results here are mostly there to see how everyone has improved and where you all struggle so we can help you.

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take this seriously. Sasuke and Sota, this will affect your graduation exam, so do your best. For the rest of you, while failing won't have any consequences, not taking it seriously will. And no cheating, you will get caught and kicked out of the exam immediately, then you will have to retake it another day."

Consequences, what did he mean about that?

"You can start as soon as you've received the test, if anyone forgot to bring something to write with, please raise your hand and you'll be handed a pencil when we take our rounds"

Soon after a group of genin came in and helped Iruka handing out. You reached down in your backpack for a pencil and waited for you to be handed your test. You looked towards the genin handling your row. And he sure was familiar.

"Something wrong?" The boy asked with a smile while handing your test.

Those glasses, that was Kabuto, why was he here? "No, I'm sorry," you mumbled.

It was time for the first question.

You suspect your sensei is a traitor, what do you do?

This was easy.

'I'll tell someone higher up I can trust and pretend I don't suspect my sensei, while still being observant about their behaviour.'

And not let myself be tricked by them to steal an important scroll.

'Your teammate is wounded during a mission, but you must bring back a scroll before the time limit is done. What do you do with your wounded teammate?'

There sounded to be a more right answer here, but you were not going there.

'There are several options here.

If time is critical make the fastest leave the group with the scroll while the rest protect the injured teammate.

Have the fastest member in the group carry the injured member and carry on as fast as we can

But in the end. Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash! If I'm going to be called trash either way, I'd rather break the rules! And if that somehow makes me anything less than a real shinobi, then I'll crush all of the so-called "real" shinobi!'

As you wrote the last kana, your thoughts got to Obito. Was there anything you could do about him? Probably not, you just had to figure out how to defend yourself against him, Pain and all the other endgame bosses.

You looked back at Kabuto again.

And him...

You turned over to question 3.

'You've been injured during the mission on the way to your target. However, it's not a serious injury. Should you tell your teammates?'

This was much easier and you started to quickly scribble down your answer.

'I'll swallow my pride and tell my sensei right away so he knows it can be aware if something happens.'

There was a few more of these kinds of questions before going over to more conventional questions about history and other stuff you'd learn the past year.

When you handed in your answers, it looked like most were still present. Naruto was not having a good time you noticed, but he would manage it.

-x-

It wasn't looking good outside, heavy rain and quite nasty wind. But bad weather wasn't an excuse to not attend the academy. The sky looked dark and inhospitable, but you had to go.

Luckily you had proper clothes in your wardrobe, so you just went back in and got dressed properly.

On the way you say some of the other kids from the academy getting distracted by some big puddles. You kind of wanted to jump in with them. But despite this body, you weren't child enough for that kind of stuff, even if it looked fun.

You wondered what Itachi would have done at your age. Would he be serious or give in to the temptation. Truth to be told, getting wet wasn't that fun, so better just walk past it.

.

The entry to the academy was a mess with wet shoes everywhere. But you found a suitable place to park yours and used your ninja skills to jump onto a bit of flood to put on your indoors shoes before getting to the classroom.

If you were lucky, you wouldn't have any classes outside today. But was luck your strongest suit?

Iruka's class was quite boring today as always. Talking about some battle where Konoha had made great advances in one of the previous wars. But you weren't the only one getting bored in these classes, even Iruka seemed to be bored of his own history classes. Not weird given that he'd probably heard this kind of stuff every year since he became a teacher. And then the years he was a student himself.

A big flash of light could be seen from the windows. You didn't know how it happened, but when the rumble from the thunder reached your ears, you were somehow under your desk clutching your head.

What was going on? Everything was suddenly silent.

"Sota, is everything fine?" Iruka asked.

"Yes, I just fell," you explained.

"Right, can you try sitting up again?"

"Yes," you said before another much worse rumble reached your ears. At this point, your body was trembling and you tried to hide your head in your lap.

"There is nothing to be afraid of Sota, you're safe inside here."

"I know," your voice was shaking for some unexplained reason. "I don't know what's going on."

"Alright Sota, just sit there if you want, I'll just continue,"

It was fine for a while, and you tried to listen to his lesson to block out all other worry and it worked, at least till the next crackle could be heard. And you started to mumble involuntary "Please... stop..." your voice was not very loud but it could still be heard. Tears filled your eyes as you could feel the wetness around your eyes.

A pair of arms embraced itself around you. "It's okay Sota, even badass ninja can be afraid," Naruto tried to calm you down. You wanted to just get up but you couldn't.

"I know, I know," you muttered to your best ability.

And then another strike hit and your brain were shutting off more and more of what happened around you. Naruto was gone, Iruka's voice was gone. The rain hitting the windows where gone. You were finally at peace.

You could sit like this for hours, just focusing on your breath in and out as nothing else existed around you. But the spell was broken when you feel your body being lifted.

"Thanks for getting me, I'll take him home and take care of him," you heard Itachi telling Iruka.

-x-

The next day you were back down in the underground tunnels.

You had surprisingly got a gift from Danzo too, you were now allowed to walk in and out of your room at your own decision. No longer needing to have a guard open it for you.

It was time to take a closer look at the gift from Shisui. According to him, the golems had targeted him so there had to be some kind of control mechanism. You just needed to find it.

You carefully started to disassemble one of the golems and you found two kinds of seals hidden inside connected with wires. You had no ideas that you could even do it.

So one controlling the other, made perfect sense. The ones placed on the primitive gears inside was clearly rotating them which you were able to confirm by channelling tiny amounts of chakra through the wire.

The weapon system of it was quite inefficient, the head had room for a spring-loaded kunai who were now gone, probably targeting Shisui who cleverly had dodged it. If you were going to use this yourself, you'd definitely use something else inside it, and Naruto's suggestion of fire would be perfect.

For the other seal, you knew it had something to do with aiming at a target, but you could not recognize any of the parts, apart from the obvious of course, but none of the core mechanics. Activating the targeting seal of one of the non-dismantled golems did nothing.

"Shadow clone Jutsu," you called out and as soon as a clone appear you pointed at it and told the golem to attack, but the head didn't move an inch.

"Sorry, I'm just testing out something," you told it.

"Can I look?" It asked.

You nodded and the clone got next to you and started smelling the seal.

"What are you doing?" You asked it.

"We've never tried smelling them, so maybe it could give us some hints," it said.

"And?"

"Nothing, just smells old cave, I can lick it if you want?"

"No, you'll just risk ruining it," you sighed. Your clone was creative sure, but not in the way you'd like. "Let us just give it some time. We can still use this with ninja wire."

"What's the point, you can just use any fire scrolls by themselves?" It asked.

Hmm.. good point.

"Wait, you use it while you're hiding somewhere, and then control the golem while they can't see you."

"Oh… that's pretty smart," you replied.

"But why are you even bothering with ninja wire, can't you just control it remotely like with explosive tags?" It asked.

"I guess there is only one way to find out," and folding your hands into a seal to dispel the clone.

"No wait, I can't help you," the clone interrupted.

"Sorry, but I only have one set up brushes," you said and made the motions to dispel it again.

"You just got another set of brushes from Shisui," it said, the voice was getting angry. "If you don't want me here, just say it, I'm not playing your games."

Clones were annoying. But you didn't want to tell it that you didn't need its help either so you fished out the keys from your pocket and threw it at it. "Catch, go get the stuff."

Why were you doing this? You should be accepting your clones help, not reject them. You shook your head in frustration over yourself. You were unable to gain their memories, but that didn't mean you couldn't benefit from their help.

You were almost done with a copy of the modified seal with a soaking wet clone stepped inside, carrying your seal bag.

"We need to get a fireplace inside so we can get dried in cases like this," it said.

"I need a kiln, but I'm not making one now. If you're freezing go get some dry clothes, there should be some here."

It was time to be somewhat nice to your clone, wouldn't be good if they hated your guts if you needed them on a mission.

So while they were getting dressed you put the finishing touches on the seal to give them some privacy in the process.

"You're done?" It asked while it was peeking over your shoulder. It had left its wet clothes in a pile on the floor. They'd disappear anyway when it dispelled so it didn't matter too much.

You nodded and replaced the old seal on one the dismantled golem for a new one and started channelling chakra. The gear just twitched for a moment.

"I guess it doesn't work, so we'll have to use ninja wire," the clone sighted. "We should ask Itachi tomorrow for some."

"I'm sorry for being mean to you, I don't know what I'm doing sometimes," you said hoping the clone wouldn't see through your thin excuse.

"It is okay," it shrugged.

You started yawning. "I think it's time to go home."

"Don't dispel me, let me just stay here for a while," it said.

"What's wrong with getting dispelled it's not like death right? Because if that's the case I'm not going to use this Jutsu anymore."

"it's more like sleep, but there is no fun sleeping all the time."

You could understand that sentiment.

"So you remember stuff?"

"Yes. I'm not sure if I remember things because I retain my memories or because I remember you remembering it."

"What about when there is more of you, are you all different people, or do you feel like you're the same?"

"The same, the memories from you feel like as if it's from another person, but those from the others feels like me. I'd rather not think about it too much, it makes the brain hurt," it chuckled.

"Okay, good night then, if you want to work on something just go ahead," you said and left the room.

You were quick to notice how your clone had gotten that wet. It was a lot more stormy outside than when you had arrived earlier. You were not quite keen to walk into the bad weather. You just stood inside watching until the sky flashed and you started shaking and when the quake came, you fell to the ground but was caught by someone behind you.

"Is everything okay Sota?" the figure asked you.

"Yes, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid," you started to mumble.

"Don't worry, I'm your friend, remember me? I gave you the soup. I won't tell Danzo anything."

"Thanks," you replied and went crawled further inside while you still had some semblance of control left. The magic of the entrance ensured that any sound and view of the outside quickly disappeared.

"If you want you can sleep here, I get you a bed if you want?" They suggested.

"What would Danzo say, I don't want him to know that I'm afraid of thunder, he'll just make me face my fears till I'm not afraid anymore, I don't think I can handle that," you said.

"Sota, I'll just tell him that you want to sleep here so you can spend more time studying fuuinjutsu without needing to go home. I'm your friend, your secrets are safe with me, you don't trust me?" They asked.

"I do," you mumbled, it would be good to lose your only real ally down here. "I'm sorry. Thanks for your help" You looked up and smiled at them.

If they smiled back you couldn't tell, masks kind of hid their emotions, even without the mask, they'd probably be trained to not smile. But they were nice, that was all that mattered.

You went back to your room while they were getting the bed.

Your clone didn't notice that you were coming back, it was too occupied with something else on the desk.

"Change of plans, I'm staying the night," you told it.

It turned their head towards you, "Oh. Bad news, you know that helping voice right. I don't have it, I've been trying to work on this, but I've gotten no guidance like I remember you've gotten, just nothing. So I might not be as useful as I'd hoped" The clone looked down in the desk clearly disappointed.

"Hey, it's okay. There is plenty you can do, I'm sure you can still figure out stuff based on what I've already worked out. What are you working on?"

"Being able to more effectively store offensive attacks so we can use absorption seals as an effective defence."

"Yeah I kind of forgot about that, I'm happy that you bring it up again," you said.

Behind you, a group of Root agents entered carrying different stuff. Bed frame, mattress, pillow and a thick blanket put in place in a corner before quickly leaving.

"Not so bad down here see," you told your clone.

It nodded.

"Do you know why I'm so afraid of thunder?" You asked.

Your clone started to shake as if you've awakened a memory. "I don't know, all I know is that it hurt," it muttered.

"But you remember that something happened, just not what?"

The clone nodded again before turning towards you. "Do you think I can sleep in your bed tonight, don't dispel me, please. I don't want to be alone."

"That's fine," you replied. Looking at the sink you noticed someone had placed a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste on it. "Sneaky ninja," you mumbled under your breath.

And talking about sneaky ninja, a bowl of soup had appeared out of nowhere. "Thanks"

You took the bowl, sat down on the bed and began eating.

"Can I have some too?" The clone asked.

"You don't need to eat."

"That doesn't mean I don't want to eat," it said and got up from their desk to sit next to you on the bed.

"Okay, but not too much, I actually need to eat," you said and handed it the bowl.

It took a few spoons before handing it back to you. "It's good"

You nodded and continued eating till the bowl was empty and you go two sets of clean pyjama. "Here," you said and threw one set to your clone.

"Thanks," it said.

After getting changed and brushing your teeth, you could finally go to bed.

"Can I brush my teeth too?" It asked. "I know I don't need to, but I want to."

"Go ahead," you sighed and got into bed and shortly after the clone was done brushing in jumped in beside you.

"You were not so bad today bastard," it mumbled.

"Why does everyone call me a bastard?" You replied.

"Because you act like one."

"Good night, I won't dispel you until you want to."

"Good night, please stop considering me an 'it' tomorrow, just because I'm a clone doesn't mean I'm at not a person," he mumbled before feeling asleep.

-x-

When you woke up the clone was still asleep, he had no school today so no point in waking him.

You got dressed and noticed there was a plate of food on your desk, rice omelette I looked like. You made sure to leave some for your clone before leaving.

You had of course forgotten something, your backpack was at home and you had to get it before going to school.

Your door was unlocked, didn't you lock it yesterday? You had probably just forgotten, Sasuke wouldn't try to seek revenge again, and there were no explosive tags here anymore so you were safe.

Ninja wire started to bind around you, making you unable move your arms.

"Uzumaki, where have you been?" An unknown voice said from… everywhere really.

"That's none of your business, who are you?" You asked.

"I followed you and then you disappeared, what's going on Uzumaki?"

"I said that's none of your business," you grunted.

"Then you appeared again later on just to go back home and get some bag."

"Oh... you're a stalker."

"I'm not a stalker," you heard from under your bed as your attacker crawled out.

A blond boy a bit taller than you, you couldn't say you'd ever seen them.

"Who are you?" You asked.

"Who am I? I'm your classmate bastard!" They yelled.

You weren't sure what to say, you really couldn't recall them, not that you ever paid too much attention to the rest of your class. Where you this much of a clutch?

"I'm Yamanaka Shin, just because I'm not an Uchiha doesn't mean I'm not worth anything. I work hard and just because I'm not that good at fighting doesn't mean others doesn't value my skills. Let see anyone else in the class capture you like this."

"I notice plenty of my classmates, I just forgot about you."

"Name them," Shin demanded.

"Uh... Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Ino." Shin was right. You hadn't managed to even learn the names of any your classmates you didn't know from the anime.

"You remember Ino but not me!" He yelled at you.

"I'm sorry, let's be friends," you offered.

"No bastard. Not that there is any point anyway at this point and you better not blame me for you getting late to the academy today," Shin said before moving towards the door.

"Cut me loose please," you asked.

Shin turned back and cut the wire with a kunai.

"Thanks," you said, but you got no response back, now you just had to hurry back to the academy. Today was hopefully the last day at the academy, given that the exam next day would go well, so you didn't want to give a bad impression by being late. At least the ninja wire could get useful later.

-x-

The plan was to go back down to your clone after school, but Itachi changed the plans a bit.

"Sota, Shisui has come home," he said, his voice was more sombre than usual.

"Anything wrong Itachi?"

"Yes, he'll tell you himself."

You followed Itachi through the Uchiha compound, it was a route you were quite familiar with by now, and the other Uchiha no longer seem to mind your presence as much as when you first visited the place.

The first thing you noticed was that Shisui's shoes weren't there, and rather pretty obvious footprint in his small hallway.

Further inside you noticed Shisui on his couch with his head buried in the pillows shoes still on.

You were unsure of what to do in this situation. You're no idea how to properly comfort people, that was Shisui's speciality.

"It's okay Shisui, we're here," you tried.

"It's not okay, he's dead."

"Who's dead?"

"My father, things got fucked up. Nothing went right, one moment he was alive, the other he was dead. I managed to get in safety thanks to him but the mission failed."

"Oh, I'm sorry," you replied. "Do you want to sit up?"

"I...," Shisui muttered "I don't know. This was supposed to make everything better, it's all my fault, he died to save me because I wasn't good enough."

Itachi put a hand through Shisui's hair and started to comfort his older friend and cousin. "You're a good ninja, you're better than me and you know all the praise I get. Don't blame yourself."

Shisui started to laugh a bit and sat himself up. "That's because you're 12. When I was your age, I was far from your level. And I was far from yours and Sota's level when I was 7. Don't try to spare my feelings by stuff like that."

Now that Shisui's was sitting up, you could notice something has changed.

"Itachi, look at him, but not say anything," you said.

His eyes had turned into the familiar pattern of them, Mangekyou Sharingan. You were a bit unsure about what kind of information to provide Shisui at this moment

"What is it?" Shisui asked.

"Look yourself in the mirror, but avoid the windows," you said. It would be no good if any wandering Uchiha saw him.

"Why be so secretive about it, if you know, what does it hurt that anyone else knows?" Shisui argued.

"Just listen to me please," you said.

Shisui sighed and went to his bathroom for a moment before getting back again.

"My eyes…" Shisui mumbled.

"I can tell you more when we're alone, I've got a feeling someone is watching us…"

By now Sasuke had noticed you and Itachi and was currently climbing on top of his lap. The cute and furry one, of course, not his brother.

"Shouldn't you be comforting Shisui and not sit on my lap?" Itachi asked Sasuke.

"Don't worry, Itachi, I get in a better mood just watching you two. You're kind of a cat sometimes too," Shisui said and looked at him

"Meow," Itachi said.

"Do I ever need Sasuke when I've you?" He asked.

"Meow," Itachi said and began to crawl over into Shisui's lap. Quite a fun view really.

"Okay, enough now."

"Meeow," Itachi said and pawed at Shisui's face.

"I think you broke him," you said.

Itachi just ignored you two and continued to paw at him.

"Itachi, what's going on? It's not fun anymore, you're weirding me out."

But he just flashed his teeth at him and made a feral sound.

"It's your eyes," you whispered.

"I made Itachi think he's a cat, Itachi is too smart for genjutsu to work on."

"It's not what you think it is," you said, trying to be a bit cryptic.

"So if I try doing it again, he'll stop?"

"Yes," you suggested.

"You're not a cat Itachi," Shisui told him while looking in his eyes. But nothing happened, Itachi just rubbed his head into Shisui's chest.

"What do we do know?" Shisui asked.

"I've no idea."

"I thought you knew everything, I've no idea how you even know this much and don't tell me it's your head injury again, that makes no sense."

"I'm sorry, I think we'll just need to keep a watch on him. I think your powers need to recharge, and I'm not sure how long it will take. Or if we can find another way of getting it to wear off."

"I guess I'll just enjoy my second cat then, Itachi should have his old cat ear headband somewhere, can't you go and ask Mikoto if she knows where it is?" He asked.

"I'm not doing that to Itachi," you said.

"Come on Sota, wouldn't it be fun to see Itachi as a playful kitten, he just needs the ears and he's perfect?"

"You can go and I can watch Itachi. See if you see anyone lurking outside while you're at it," you suggested.

"Are you sure you can handle Itachi?" He asked.

"Can anyone handle him? I'll just find a piece of string to keep him occupied."

"Hmm... I'll go, I can't let this chance skip past me."

Shisui found a ball of yarn for you to occupy your new cat with and he left.

And Itachi didn't even wait for you to throw it, he just leapt forward and bit his teeth into the yarn and rolled around on the ground with it.

Not exactly what you had in mind, but Catachi had it fun. Sasuke, however, kept his distance from this mess and you'd no idea what he thought about the matter.

Should you try to ask Matatabi if she had any idea on how to solve the matter? How could you even ask her?

"Matatabi, do you know what I can do about this?" you asked out aloud. She was able to observe the world through your eyes, so she should be able to listen. The problem would be to listen to any eventual answer.

Could you stop it by just pushing chakra into him? How did they fix the Samurai leader at the 5-kage-summit? Didn't they just tell him what had happened and it was fine?

What that was you needed to do, just tell Itachi exactly what had happened and you'd fix him?

"Itachi, Shisui used the Sharingan to make you believe that you're a cat," you whispered in his ear.

In an instant, something seemed to wake up inside him and he got up and dropped the ball of yarn from his mouth.

"That was weird," Itachi said.

"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."

"Having you two see me like that was embarrassing enough."

"True, but I guess you cheered him up a lot."

"What did you do," Shisui said from the entrance. He was back with a pair of white cat ears.

"I fixed him," you said.

"I can see that, but I wanted to have him be my cute cat for a bit longer."

"Shisui, I can still wear those if you want," Itachi took them and put on his head. "Meow."

"Thanks, I think this can solve things. We should tell the Hokage and we can solve this whole mess."

"No!" You called out.

"What, this will be perfect, if we tell him we can fix this..."

"No, you'll just get killed if you tell anyone, if you're going to do it, do it in secret."

"Don't they want peace, why would he do that?"

"I don't know, just don't tell anyone about this power, promise me. Not unless you have to, besides, it will probably not work again for at least some months, maybe a year, maybe a decade. I've no clue really, just that it takes time."

"Hmm, it is a shame to give up such a powerful weapon, but you're right, a power like this would be sought after. I just feel there is something we should do about it. We cannot sit and do nothing," Shisui said.

"We're not doing nothing, Father is pleased that Sasuke is being given a chance to graduate early. We just need to make father happy and if the others in our clan can see that, we might have a shot at it," Itachi explained.

"Is there someone outside the window?" You asked.

What had they heard, where you in deep shit or was it just an animal wandering about, or perhaps a crow? But a crow could very well be an Uchiha unless it was just Itachi that had that ability.

"I think we should leave Sota," Itachi said.

You nodded, you didn't know why, but it just seemed to be the safest choice. "We'll talk about this when you're somewhere safe Shisui."

"Talk about what?" It was the quite recognizable voice of Uchiha Fugaku.

"Nothing father," Itachi said.

"Don't lie to me. Sota here have good senses, I'm disappointed that you two didn't notice me," he said before turning to you and pointed to the door "Get out, I need to talk to them. And Itachi, take off that silly headband you're too old for that nonsense."

"I'm Shisui's guest," you argued.

"Just wait outside will you," Itachi promoted and took off the cat ears to put on you.

You nodded and stepped outside of the living room with Fugaku promptly closing the door. Though for some reason, every noise was suddenly much louder than it used to.

"What was going on here, why were you behaving in such a childish manner?"

"Sorry father, I and Shisui were just pulling a prank on Sota to make him believe that Shisui had made me think I was a cat. Just some harmless fun."

"And what's this about a powerful weapon?" Fugaku asked.

"Uchiha-sama, if I could make the Hokage think he was a cat, wouldn't get give me a lot of power?" Shisui said.

"That's not what it sounded like from Sota's reaction do this power."

"Father, Sota's head injury did turn him a bit weird, his rationale might not be the best and he's just seven years old, children make up explanations that don't always make sense."

"Very well son, we'll end it here for now. But I don't want to hear anything else suspicious around you two, the rumours are already wandering."

"Yes Father," Itachi replied.

Fugaku opened the door to the hallway where you were waiting and looked straight at you. In an instant, he removed the ears from your head and started tapping his foot on the floor before putting the ears on his head.

His face turned into a frown and he took them off again.

"Itachi, very clever these ears aren't they? I'm sure you didn't know it would let Sota eavesdrop on us when you put them on him."

"I'm sorry Father," Itachi said.

Fugaku put them in a grip ready to break them, before changing his mind pocketed them inside his uniform and left.

-x-

"Sota are you ready?" Itachi asked you.

"Are you sure this is right, training Sasuke and then come straight to me to teach me how to counter the tricks you taught him?"

"Are you saying I'm a bad brother for protecting Sasuke from the dangers of the world?"

"No."

"Then there should be no issue. We'll work on countering counters today, sounds good?"

You nodded.

"Alright, you start on the defensive, I'll come at you trying to strike, you're going to counter and I'm countering that again."

"Alright, come at me!" You said as you got into a defensive stance.

Itachi came at you, but his speed was slower than normal, you grabbed his hand while punching back. But instead of hitting straight, he dodged you again before hitting you in the stomach."

"It won't be this easy against Sasuke, but you get the idea on how it is in his shoes right?"

"Yeah, then it's my turn to go against you, ready?"

"I'm always ready, so go at it."

You moved quickly into Itachi's reach and tried hitting him while being aware of his planned defence. But you saw quickly that he was not grabbing your hand, so you had to take a step back to avoid getting hit with his superior reach.

"Not bad, and you seemed to not be taken by surprise that I didn't copy your tactic. A ninja is never predictable."

"Never?"

"If someone goes at you with the same trick 9 times in a row, there is no guarantee that the 10th won't be different and kill you."

"Ever happened to you?"

"Do I look dead to you?" He asked.

"No, but you get what I mean."

"Yes, I've been too arrogant when facing some of my opponents yes. So if you're going to be a better ninja than me you better not make the same mistake yourself."

"I got it, another round, make it a bit harder this round will you?"

"Be careful what you asked for," he said with an evil grin on his face. Even twelve-year-olds could look scary in such a small body as yours.

-x-

Today was the day, today you would know if you got to graduate or not. It all started with Fugaku getting up to take a pledge in front of the Hokage.

"Repeat after me. I Uchiha Fugaku promises to respect the results of the exam."

"I Uchiha Fugaku promises to respect the result of this exam."

"I accept that any failure is full you on my own, and not due to biased examiners," the Hokage continued.

"Why does he have to do this, won't your father get mad for getting accused of cheating?" You whispered to Itachi.

"This is something every parent have to do, it saves the Hokage from having to accuse anyone, Father just needs to accept it or there will be no exam for Sasuke. And it also saves the teachers from angry parents demanding that their kid should pass, even if they're not prepared."

"I see."

"Sota and Sasuke, I wish both of good luck, your teacher will take over from here," the Hokage said and left.

"Now, the written exam has already been completed, so we'll move onto the first practical test. Target shooting," Iruka said. "Now, Sota will you go first?"

"Sure," you replied and get handed a small pouch of kunai and shuriken and followed Iruka to a designated area behind the school.

"We start when I give the signal. There will be ten targets in total, you choose which order you want to use your weapons. But you'll end up using all of them in the end. You can try again if you miss, but be aware, the target will only appear for a short while and get faster and faster as we go.

So not like the normal target practise where the target was immobile.

"How will we be scored?" You asked.

"As long as you hit, you get a point, bullseyes aren't important here."

With the sound of a firecracker going off, you were on. The target could appear from all around you so you needed to be vigilant or else you'd lose point fast. With little hesitation, you managed to get the first shuriken off as you noticed the red disc appearing in the foliage. Kunai was easier to throw, so better save them for the last. It all went quite well, until the last targets. Things were going really fast and at your 7th target, you missed your first shot. No point in trying to hit it again as it would just disappear before you could react.

At eight and ninth you were lucky with your angle. Things felt good, like as if that miss was just a fluke. But before you could hit your 10th target, you heard another firecracker calling the entire thing off. What a great way to end it, not even being able to see the target before it disappeared. But 8 out of 10 wasn't that bad, you hoped.

It was now Sasuke's turn.

"The target will appear in different spots this time, so don't try to just copy Sota," Iruka told Sasuke.

He had a confident look on his face, not wanting to disappoint his father or Itachi, but unknown to you, for his own self-esteem, he needed to beat you.

Instead of going for the shuriken first tactic, he chose to start with kunai. And one after one he managed to take down the targets. He almost seemed pleased with himself. But then he ran out of kunai and the trouble started. His aim was off on his first shuriken and instead of hitting the target, it curved of course.

The previous smile on Sasuke's face was gone. One miss and he was suddenly a failure, at least in his own eyes and probably his father. Itachi however, was happy with Sasuke.

Even when the next one hit Sasuke's smile wasn't back. And it wouldn't come back as that was last of his hits. Six out of ten. He might have fared better if he started with the quicker more straight moving kunai, but that was in the past now.

"Good job Sasuke, 6 out of 10 isn't bad," Iruka smiled at Sasuke trying his best to be encouraging to the both of you. "Now do you need a short break or are you ready for the spar?"

"I'm ready," Sasuke replied.

"Alright, follow me both of you," Iruka said and lead you to a clearing with a big ring carved in the ground. "For the rules, taijutsu only. Don't hit your opponent when they're down, but you are allowed to pin them in place. You're out if both feet are out of the ring or if you're unable to stand up," Iruka explained.

"Nii-san has learnt me a lot of tricks to beat you Sota, this isn't like class where you can win all the time, get it?!" He yelled at you.

The fire was back in his eyes, you could say that at least. Little did he know that Itachi has gone to you each night and prepared you for everything Sasuke had learnt. You had made a promise to crush Sasuke, and you were going to keep it. None of you wanted to see Sasuke get promoted and killed in the field.

"Good luck," you greeted back. There was no need for trash talk. You were going to beat him, not his spirit.

"Now make the seal of confrontation."

You both followed suit as you'd done in every spar in class.

"Start!" Iruka yelled out.

Sasuke didn't move, he waited for you to make the first one, and you knew that he was letting you make the first move so he could surprise with you with a well-trained counter, but that wouldn't work.

You charged at him, but instead of hitting, you went into a blocking stance stopping Sasuke's fist. At the look of his eyes, he had expected you to hit instead. And that was the opening you needed to hit him back.

How were you going to approach this? Try to grapple him out or knock him down?

You were unsure if you were stronger so you went for the safest approach and tried hitting him again while being prepared to block any incoming hit. Sasuke had learnt from his previous mistake and was blocking instead of trying any risky moves again. But the bad thing about blocking was that you still got hurt. You just needed to keep going till Sasuke got tired of being on the defensive and hit back. It didn't take long, and when he tried swinging at you, you ducked down and charged at his midst with your head pushing him backwards.

You got him a bit closer to the edge before his footing loosened and he fell to the ground.

Usually, this was were spar ended in class, but now you had to force him to stay down. You didn't like what you were planning to do, but you had to. The rules only prevented you from hitting him, but stamping on his hand to inflict pain and keep him down should be within the rules right?

He let out a shriek of pain as his fingers got pressed into the ground. He quickly started to hit your foot with his other hand, but it was not very effective.

Iruka began to count down. "Three..."

Sasuke became more desperate and started yelling out while hitting you. "Get off me, I need to win.." But he was unable to put much force into his attacks.

"Two"

"I can't lose this, please get off me."

"One"

"You're a fucking asshole."

"Zero. Sorry Sasuke, but its over," Iruka announced. "Please get off him Sota."

You lifted your foot off him and handed out a hand to help him get up. But he just swatted it away with his other hand. He looked up at you with tears in his eyes. He was devastated, he was truly crushed. But he didn't say a word.

"Do you need help with your hand?" Iruka asked.

"No, I'm fine" Sasuke answered. But you couldn't avoid noticing him rubbing it. His pride hurt more than his hand.

"For the last part. I'm going to test your ninjutsu abilities. While Sasuke's hand gets some rest, you can start Sota. The first Jutsu is the henge, can you turn into me please?" Iruka explained.

You nodded and folded your hands into the correct seal. With a smoke cloud later, you were now a carbon copy of Iruka.

"Good work Sota, next one is the replacement Jutsu. Please switch with this chair," he said and pointed to said furniture, "and please dispell the henge will you?"

"Oh sorry," you said and dispelled it, before making another set of seals to replace with the chair. With a poof, you had changed places.

"Good work, now for the last one, the clone."

This was it, would he accept your shadow clone or even notice that it wasn't the normal clones?

You took a deep breath before splitting yourself into three. They all look fine and healthy, and you were quick to dispel them before they talked. They had a mind of their own and you wouldn't want Iruka to notice.

"Very well Sota, perfect this round," he said and smiled at you. "Now Sasuke, are you ready?"

"Yes," he said and walked up to where you'd stood.

"Can you turn into me please?"

Sasuke nodded and copied your earlier movements. What appeared wasn't completely right. It was rather how Iruka had looked like if he had Sasuke's eyes and hair colour.

"Good, but you still need a bit of work."

For the replacement, Sasuke had no issue.

"That's better, now for the clones. I want you to make two."

At the look on his face, it didn't look like he liked that, but he didn't say anything, just made the seal and produced a clone, not the two that were required. It looked fine, probably much better than what you'd done without the shadow clones, but not enough.

"Good job Sasuke. Both of you are done now. We'll go over your performance and decide if you're ready to become genin or not. It shouldn't take more than an hour. Go get some good to eat, you've both deserved it," Iruka said.

Sasuke walked back to his father and Itachi, you could see in Fugaku's eyes that he was not pleased. It was the eyes of a man that had just failed. He didn't believe Sasuke had done a good enough job and it was hopefully true. The only one looking happy there was Itachi.

While Itachi was spending time with his family, you took the trip to the dango stand. You still have some of the gift cards Naruto gave you for your birthday.

As you sat down at the stand you heard steps behind you. "How did it go?" Shisui asked.

"It went good, I mostly messed up on the two of my kunai shot, but other than that it looked good I hope."

"And Sasuke?"

"Safe I think."

"I'm glad to hear that, so should I buy you celebratory dango or wait till you've actually been promoted?"

"You can buy me, 'Good work today dango', and then later buy me 'Congratulations you're genin' dango."

"Would you have betrayed the village for dango?"

"How much dango are we talking about?"

Shisui started to laugh and you joined him.

"I'll make sure I and Itachi provide you with enough dango that you won't betray Konoha then", he said before ordering the usual stuff at the stand.

You've eaten this for months and you were still not tired of them. Maybe the Hokage should be worried about your dental health after all, because you were unsure how good these were for your teeth.

-x-

After a while, it was time to go back to the Academy to get your results. On the table, beside Iruka, you could see a single forehead protector lying there. So you knew that just one of you had made it.

"First of all, both of you did a good job, so if you fail, there is nothing to be ashamed over. Sota, come up here please," Iruka said and you stepped up to them.

"Your score in every part was well above the requirements, a bit of weakness in the target shooting, but that isn't hurting your performance too much."

He then moved his armed to grab the forehead protector and started fastening it around your forehead.

"Congratulations Uzumaki Sota, you're now officially a genin of Konoha. Meet up at the academy tomorrow for your first team meeting."

"Thanks, sensei," you answered.

"Now Sasuke, come up here."

He slowly approached Iruka and was pushed the first part by his father.

"Sorry Sasuke, I know you did your best, but it is not enough for this time. Your low score at the written part, along with the target shooting and ninjutsu, I cannot pass you this time around. But you might get the chance again next year, so stay positive and work on improving yourself," Iruka said.

"You never planned on passing him did you?" Fugaku was yelling at him. "Don't pretend we're blind, everyone can see that there was only one forehead protector."

"Uchiha-san, don't break your pledge, you promised before the exam to respect the results. Besides, we only brought out the forehead protectors after we evaluated the boys' performance. Sasuke had just as good of a chance of graduating, he just didn't perform well enough this time."

"You better tell the truth or I'm getting you removed from your position," Fugaku said before stepping up to Sasuke and grabbing his wrist. "We're going home now, Sasuke"

Before leaving, Itachi stepped up to you. "I'm sorry, I'd love to celebrate with you, but Sasuke needs me more now. I hope Father isn't too angry."

"I get it, I'll just get Shisui to buy me more dango for both of you."

"See you another time Sota and good luck with your team tomorrow."

"Thanks," you smiled to him while he was leaving.

Everything had gone according to the plan, now you just had to prepare for the next stage in life as a ninja. No more school to worry about, just missions and the dreaded D-ranks. As long as you got a sensei that let you use your shadow clones things would be fine.

Oops, you had all forgot about visiting your clone again...

You were carrying two sticks of dango, one for yourself and one as an apology for your clone. But as you stepped into your room in Danzo's underground base, the room was empty. In the corner, you notice black scorch marks and your clothes shredded around.

"I'm glad that's not me," you mumbled before biting on the ends of the dango sticks to free your hands. "Shadow Clone Jutsu" you called out.

You and your clone took the dango sticks out of your mouths.

"What happened?" You asked.

"Just an accident," he shrugged. "Do you think I can eat the dango copies?"

"Hmm, it would be a nice to get unlimited dango, so try." Why hadn't you thought about this before? Then you wouldn't have to mooch on Itachi or Shisui anymore.

The moment the clone bit his teeth into the ball, he and the dango disappeared in a puff of smoke.

That made sense. You put the dango on a piece of sealing paper you hoped was clean enough before recreating the clone.

"That was weird, it felt like I was eating myself," he said.

"Here," you handed him one or your real ones. "I'm sorry for forgetting about you, stuff happened,"

"It's okay, I got a lot of progress with the sealing stuff," he said between taking bites of his dango. "I managed to make a seal absorb several explosions, but it is quite unstable which was what happened there?" He said pointing to the wall. "I'm sorry about your clothes."

"It's okay, they'll provide me with more if I need it I think. So can you show me how you did it?"

The clone nodded and sat down on the desk and started drawing the normal explosion absorption seal, but the difference was clear. From the storage on the old seal, he had drawn another element that looked like was pulling whatever stored there into a much bigger container. "It works a few time before it starts glowing and releases its contents."

"Do you want me to help you, or do you want to work on this while I'm not here?" You asked him.

"You're better at this than me, so I'd like your help, but it would be fun to have some project to work on yes."

You nodded. "Maybe if we make something around the circle to stabilize it, or maybe another shape could work? Right now we're minimizing the surface of the circle compared to area, putting much more pressure on it."

"Oh, so what does that mean?" he asked.

This was simply physics or rather maths, but the clone wasn't you and hadn't had this kind of stuff in the academy, so you couldn't really blame him.

"Not sure how to explain this," you mumbled before picking up a kunai and gently poking yourself on the finger "Imagine a kunai, it's quite sharp and if you put a lot of pressure on a small area it hurts you."

"But if you spread it, it doesn't hurt, I think I get it now," he said. "So if I use a spiral it should work?"

"Probably, should we test?" You asked.

The clone nodded and grabbed a clean sheet of paper and drew the improved seal before putting it in the corner of the room. "You should stay on the other end in case something goes wrong," he suggested.

You nodded in response while the clone started firing one after another explosive tag while the seal absorbed everything. "It seems like is working, I didn't manage this many tags before it exploded the last time."

"Nice, we're a good team."

"What happens if it fills up," he mumbled.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"We don't know before we try," the clone said while firing off some more tags, waiting a few seconds before each.

"I think it is stable now, it's not glowing ominously," he said and kept on firing off a few more before the seal gave in and caused a large explosion, kicking dust and pieces of dirt everywhere, though you were quick to cover your face with your hands. Your ears were ringing and you weren't sure if the room was shaking or just your balance was off due to the sound.

Your clone was unsurprisingly gone.

Though the clone's reckless behaviour wasn't without results. The fix to the shape helped a lot and you could store a lot more than expected. But it still had instability problems. You wouldn't want the entire seal to fail if there was no room left to store the explosion. But rather just fail to absorb the last explosion, or better, warn you long before it got full so you could do something about it.

Without warning a group of Root agents burst inside your door. "What's going on here?" One of them asked.

"I just had an accident," you replied. It was just now you saw the full extent of your failed attempt. A large dent in the ground and on the walls with cracks travelling along the ground, up the wall and on the ceiling. Your bed was also broken, but at least your desk and other tags were far enough from the blast to get away from it with nothing worse than a bit of dirt and sot on it.

"I think you should leave for today. Come back in a few days and your room will be put back in order again. Danzo will be informed of this," they said and dragged you outside. A prick on the back of your neck could be felt, a sign that your access to your room had currently been revoked.

How bad was it for this kind of reaction? You didn't think much of it before walking home again. It was getting late anyway. Hopefully, your sensei wouldn't be as tardy as Kakashi, hopefully, your sensei wasn't Kakashi, or else you'd defect.

-x-

"What do to bring today," you mumbled to yourself. As a genin, you should be properly equipped. That meant putting on the sword because it could be useful. Fasten the kunai pouch and even some with explosive tags tied to it. You weren't supposed to have them here, but with all the intruders you'd had in the room, it would hurt to have some real firepower if someone actually dangerous tried breaking in. It would at least scare them because you were little keen on blowing up your own apartment since this one was made out of wood, much less durable than Danzo's dirt and rock walls.

After looking yourself in the mirror, double-checking that you looked decent, you left and made sure to lock the door. Not that it mattered since everyone seemed to have a knack for lockpicking around here.

You were finally there, outside the room was your new team was waiting. First impressions were never that important for you, but this was different. It wouldn't be good to get off with a bad start with a team you'd probably spend years together with. You took a deep breath before pushing down the door handle and opened the door.

And the look surprised you. That you didn't recognize the sensei was to be expected, but to see Kabuto and Torune sitting there along with him, that you hadn't expected.

But bugboy was supposed to be in Root, while Shi... what was his name? Was he even in your class… He was wearing sunglasses, right? But there was no one in your class with sunglasses. You tried visualizing your class, but your mind was blank. Had they switched places by the virtue of butterflies?

You couldn't be entirely sure if Torune wasn't spying on you for Danzo, but Danzo didn't need him for that either, he had enough people watching you other places.

"Come and join us Sota, we don't bite," your new sensei said.

"Oh sorry," you replied and sat on the desk opposite of them.

"I'm Namiashi Raidou, but you can call me Raidou-sensei. Will you introduce yourself, boys?"

"I'm Kabuto, I like studying medicine and I'm already a decent medic. I hope to pass the chuunin exam next time. I'm 14 already and feel I'm being slow, but I lose confidence when it matters."

No, you give up because you don't want to pass you evil bastard.

"Why do you look at me like that?" He asked.

"Sorry," you said to excuse yourself.

"I'm Aburame Torune, I like my bugs. I'm happy with being with my team, I just hope Hana could have stayed with us more."

Either he was a good actor, or he was nothing like the emotionless Danzo drone you knew him as.

"Inuzuka Hana became Chuunin in the last exam, I'm sure Kabuto could have a good chance too, but he quit before the last round," Raidou explained.

"I'll do better next time, I assume we won't join anyone this year?"

"Because of Sota? I'm not holding his age against him. There has been plenty of genin who've managed well with less than a year of experience."

"Thanks for the confidence sensei, but don't you think it's a bit rushed? I know Itachi didn't become a chuunin before he was 10."

"You're not Itachi, are you? His Sharingan can't match your potential."

Was he hinting towards the cat? Shouldn't your team know about her too then?

"If you're ready for the next exam here in Konoha, there is no need to wait a few years just because your friend waited. And getting promoted doesn't mean you have to leave the team, don't make yourself worst for that reason. Hana left because she wanted to."

"I see."

"Do you want to tell us about yourself?" Raidou asked.

"I'm Uzumaki Sota. I like hanging around my friends Uchiha Itachi and Shisui and for hobbies, fuuinjutsu and explosions I guess. Do you have any hobbies sensei?" You asked.

"I don't have time for hobbies."

"He likes knitting," Genma said from the window.

"What are you doing here?" Raidou asked.

"I just wanted to see if you're treating my senpai right," he winked at you.

"I've done this for a while now, I don't need your help."

"Raidou can be a bit stuck up most of the time, but he was much worse before he took on a team. So don't be afraid to joke a bit around sometimes, it's good for him."

"Get out, I'm trying to make a good first impression here," Raidou yelled and Genma leapt out of the window he came from.

"Sorry about that. Welcome to Team 4, Sota."

"Four…"

"You're not superstitious, are you? No one is allowed to die on my watch, the only one to die are our enemies."

"If you die I'll find a way to bring you back so sensei can scold you," Kabuto said smiling, hiding his bastard necromancer nature behind a joke

"Hey, why are you so angry at me, it was just a joke?" Kabuto asked.

"I'm sorry, nothing."

"It doesn't seem like nothing. We're a team now, you can tell me if I've done something wrong."

You brought forth your best fake smile. "I just look angry when I'm not sometimes, you're good Kabuto."

"That sword Sota, you know to use it?" Raidou asked.

"A bit, had one duel that went badly, got stabbed in my stomach, so I've not used it since then."

"Do you want to learn?"

"No thanks, I'm just carrying it in case it will be useful for something. It's quite light so it doesn't matter."

"He was been trying to make us pick up a sword too, but so far he hasn't had any success. One of Hana's dogs wanted to learn though, but Sensei for some reason doesn't think swords and dogs were a good combination," Kabuto told you.

"The offer stands for all of you if you were to change your mind."

"I want to help people, not kill people sensei."

"You can't defeat threats by healing them Kabuto."

"I've my ninja way, you've your Sensei."

Raidou just sighed and shook his head.

It was time to crack one mystery. "Torune can I ask you something?"

He nodded.

"Do you have any other family than your father?"

He quickly turned his gaze towards the floor. "Not anymore," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, they died?" Maybe a bit insensitive, no most definitely insensitive, but curiosity made the cat do stupid things.

"No, they're just gone."

That explanation perfectly fitted his cousin being in Root. So you didn't need to worry about Tororune working for Danzo, they had just switched spots. Kabuto, however... Didn't Danzo send him to spy in other villages? Or had Orochimaru gotten to him at this point?

Danzo's style was more the emotional drone, this wasn't that. He was an Orochimaru spy and you just needed to prove it.

"I guess this is all for today. You've got the rest of the day off, you'll meet at 6 am tomorrow at training ground 4." Raidou said and sent you off.

-x-

"Hi Sota, how was your team?" Itachi asked you as you were leaving the academy building.

"Fine, I guess," you replied.

"Mind if we take a walk while you tell me about them?"

"It's okay. I'm not sure how I feel, this boy Kabuto seems nice, too cheerful really, but I can't avoid thinking something is up with him."

"I guess you just need to keep a watch then, but be careful that you're not so sure of yourself that you see things that aren't there."

"I'm not so sure. And the other boy Torune seems fine too, I thought he was in Root, but he is apparently living with his father, so that doesn't make much sense."

"So why do you think he should be in Root Sota?"

"I just feel it, just like with the other stuff, but what if I'm wrong, what if I've gotten everything mixed up. No, his cousin is in Root instead. Danzo has been demanding kids for Root and Shibi was forced to give up his son."

"That makes sense, there is no big secret that Danzo has been recruiting clan kids. He even tried getting me for a while."

"He's not getting me," you said and looked up at him.

"Sasuke," Itachi exclaimed. "What happened?"

Turning your head back on the road you saw a halting and downtrodden Sasuke, his right side of his face was red and blue and you could see markings on his neck and arms, his hand was also bandaged from you stepping on it during the spar.

Saying that he looked horrible would be putting a nice spin on it.

"Father beat me because of you," Sasuke said, his voice was strained.

"Because of me?" Itachi replied, looking confused "I haven't done anything, have I?"

"I know you sabotaged me, you made me fail on purpose!" He yelled.

"I…" he tried getting words out but failed.

Itachi walked up to Sasuke and was reaching his hand out, but Sasuke hit it back with as much force that he could muster.

"Don't touch me!"

"I did it to protect you Sasuke, the world there is dangerous," Itachi pleaded.

"But not for Sota, you help him graduate," Sasuke argued back.

"He's better prepared."

"I would be prepared too if you spent time helping me instead of him all the time," he pointed at you.

"You're my brother I just want you to be safe."

"I'm not your brother anymore, you've replaced me with Sota and Shisui."

"Sasuke that's not true."

"You spend much more time with them than me."

"I've spent a lot of time with Sota helping him graduate. I'll spend more time with you from now on if you want?"

"I hate you!" Sasuke said, his eyes were getting teary.

"Sasuke, don't say that you don't mean it."

"I mean it. You tricked me, you made Father think I'm a failure. You're barely spending time with me. How can I trust you Itachi?"

"I don't know," Itachi mumbled. "I'll be better from now on, I promise, I promise."

"Don't come home I don't want to see you again," Sasuke said.

"Are you sure you want to go home now, with Father treating you like that?"

"He did it because of you, and he has apologized to me. He's going to teach me the fireball Jutsu soon."

"I was going to do that Sasuke," Itachi said.

"I don't want your help, you'll just make me do it wrong. I can make Father proud finally."

"I..."

"I'm going, leave me alone," Sasuke said and turned to you and looked straight in your eyes "I wish you had died."

After Sasuke had left, you turned to Itachi again. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I think I want to stay somewhere else, give Sasuke some space I'm sure it will go over soon."

"You can stay with me if you want?"

"Thanks, but I think that would just make Sasuke angrier. Don't worry about me, I'll figure out something," Itachi said and gave you a strained smile. You could see subtle tears falling down Itachi's chins, he had tried hiding them but had failed in the last minute.

-x-

The rest of the way home was uneventful and you were happy to see that your door was locked today. No sneaky ninja hiding under your bed.

"Danzo!" You called out as you saw the man sitting on one of your kitchen chairs sipping tea. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a small task for you it is time you pay the village back for the help you've gotten."

"What kind of task?"

"I want you to make some copies of this seal for me," he said and unrolled a large seal on the table.

"An explosive tag?" You questioned.

"Yes."

"How many do you want?"

"A hundred would be sufficient."

"What are you going to do with all that, blow up a bridge?"

But as usual, Danzo had still not learnt that it was polite to laugh at people's jokes, even if they were bad. He just turned it over and revealed another seal on the backside. A backwards glue symbol was quite prominent in the middle.

"You see what this is?" He asked you.

"Yes, it's for sticking the seal onto a surface. And it's backwards because when it's applied on a surface, it's mirrored, so the seal itself needs to be a mirror, right?" You asked.

"You'll find a box of blank tags in your room along with some extra jars of ink. There is enough for some of your personal projects too. You have got a month."

"I was told to not come back for a few days," you said.

"That was a mistake on their part and has been corrected. Do a good job and there will be rewards, delay and there will be consequences," he said and put down the empty cup of tea before leaving your small apartment."

"What is the point of locks if everyone just breaks in anyways," you muttered when he was out of hearing distance.

Better get started, larger seals took more chakra out of you, even if drawing them was relatively quick by now. And you didn't know how much time and chakra you'd spend on missions and training, especially since Raidou-sensei didn't seem like the kind of guy who was going to waste much of his time on D-ranks.

On the way back to his base, a tabby cat started following you and after a while, it started rubbing against your feet. And you had to stop for a moment to not stumble in it.

"Meow," it said and started pawing up on your side.

"Hmm, I could perhaps bring you down, Danzo hasn't told me that it isn't allowed," you mumbled to yourself and bow down so the can could climb up on you.

"What's your name?" You asked the cat while scratching their ear.

"Meow," it responded.

"I'll call you Meow then, hang on now," you said before entering the base. You hoped the cat would follow through and not just get thrown off by the magics of the entrance.

There was no Root agent there to put up any objection about both the cat, or you coming back at this time so you just carried it into your room and it jumped down from your shoulder before lying down on one of your shelves.

You opted for not bringing out your clone again, he probably needed some rest after being violently blown apart and being alone was alone nice sometimes.

You picked up one of the boxes of paper tags and placed it on your desk. They were much bigger than what you were used to, comparable with A3 paper you'd reckoned. One thing was for sure was as you took a look at the ink jars he had brought in, there was plenty for this task.

Looking them gave you an idea, instead of storing explosions, fire or whatever you'd wished to defend yourself again on paper scribbles, you could perhaps use small jars of ink. The pressure might be a problem here to, but you could fill it gravel or sand to deal with that, and a metal or glass container would probably supply much more resistance than what an uncontained ink splat on paper would do.

But you needed a safer way to test things before that, and your clone needed rest or rather you didn't trust him to be here a week without supervision.

The first couple of seals went well, but after a while, the chakra drain was becoming apparent. Though you'd get better with age. You knew that your old classmates had barely any chakra now compared to when they became a genin. The question about when Sasuke would be able to fire off fireballs wasn't about skill, but have enough chakra to keep standing after one try.

You heard meowing and scratching at the door.

"I'm sorry I didn't have more time for you, I let you out," you told Meow. It was clearly a smart cat as they quickly jumped upon you as you talked to them.

"Maybe you should hide under my jacket so no one sees you," you told the cat and grabbed your jacket from your chair.

The cat was ducking their head down as you left your room and walked the short bit through the tunnels towards the entrance. When you were outside you pulled down the zipper so the cat could get out if he wanted.

"I guess I should go home now too," you mumbled to yourself. "Do you want to follow me home?" You asked Meow, but it just ran away.

On the way back you heard shouting inside a bar.

"Why did you serve him sake, he's just a child!" Kakashi yelled.

"He was having a bad time, so we decided to cheer him up a bit, he was having a good time after he got some glasses inside him."

"I'll report this, and don't you dare try to bribe yourself out of this mess," Kakashi continued and left the building.

It was then you saw he was carrying Itachi on his back. His face was red and he could barely open his eyes.

"Mom," he said before he started vomiting on Kakashi's uniform. "I want mom."

It didn't look like he was aware of his environment at all.

"Are you taking him home?" You asked.

"I'm not bringing him to his father in this state, I'm taking him back to my place."

You began following after.

"Go home, Itachi needs some space and not you hanging around him," Kakashi said and picked up the speed.

There was no point arguing with Kakashi, he'd use force against you for less in the past. The plan was to go home, but perhaps you should tell Shisui first.

When you arrived at the gates of the Uchiha compound, the guards blocked the entrance for you.

"You're not allowed inside here, Fugaku's orders," one of them said.

"I need to talk to Shisui."

"That's not our problem," they replied.

"Be nice to him," Shisui said from the top of the wall and jumped down beside you.

"I need to talk to you about Itachi," you said.

"Alright, let's go somewhere more private," he said.

As you were talking Shisui whispered into your ear. "We're being watched, but going somewhere else means that only one person will listen in."

You nodded.

He finally stopped by a bench near an empty training ground and you sat down.

"Let me start," Shusui said. "Fugaku talked to me and Itachi earlier. He figured out that Itachi had sabotaged Sasuke's chances at the exam."

"Yeah, Itachi helped me counter Sasuke's tricks for the spar," you said.

"Itachi did much more than that. You might have found it strange that Sasuke started with the easier weapon during the target shooting, but this was because Itachi had told him that it was better to make sure to hit the first targets than to get greedy with the points.

"He made Sasuke shift focus from the other tests, and focus primarily on the spar as he overemphasised the importance of that task. So even if he were to defeat you there, his score elsewhere would be too low for him to graduate.

"It was a well-planned plan to make sure Sasuke would fail, and I think Fugaku has told Sasuke everything."

You nodded. "Yes, I and Itachi meet Sasuke. He was beaten up and was blaming everything on Itachi. Told Itachi that he hated him and that accused Itachi of replacing him as a brother."

"That bastard," Shisui grunted. "Itachi and Sasuke would be better off without him."

"Itachi couldn't handle it…" you said before pausing.

"Don't be afraid to tell anything about Itachi, he's being watched too. So that bastard won't learn anything new."

"He went to drink sake. I found out when I passed the bar and heard Kakashi shouting at someone inside there about them letting a child drink, before carrying him out. Itachi looked quite sick and Kakashi brought him home with him.

"I'm going to get him," Shisui said. "I don't trust Kakashi with him."

"Stop," you said and grabbed his jacket. "You're not making things better for Itachi, he needs rest, not you arguing with Kakashi"

"I guess you're right. He was Itachi's senpai for a while and helped him with much of what he knows today."

"Do you feel challenged?"

Shisui paused for a moment before outing a strong "No," before continuing. "There is more to the story. As you heard the other day, Fugaku things I and Itachi are up to something. That's why we're being watched. I and Itachi also being forbidden from going on missions together without anyone he trusts being with us. Have we fucked everything up?"

As long as you didn't say anything explicit you'd be okay right? Keep it vague and you'd be okay?

"I don't think so, we still have time. Nothing will happen before Sasuke is eight-years-old I think, but after that things are more uncertain."

"That gives us half a year then, that's good to hear. But about you, how was your first day with your team?"

"Fine, even if I don't trust one of my teammates, I hope it's not grounded in reality, but you can never be too careful and I hate it. He seems nice, but I feel it's just a cover so he can stab us in the back before we can react," you explained.

"Are you sure you're not being a bit paranoid, you're far too young to succumb to paranoia, maybe it's the air you're breathing. Make sure to get plenty of fresh air. But if you get anything substantial on him, tell me and I can try to get something done. Fugaku won't let pettiness get between him and doing his job."

"I'll see if I figure something out."

"I'm also trying to get you for a mission together, but that won't happen before your first C-rank, so that can take a while."

"Not really, I don't think that Raidou-sensei will spend much time with D-ranks, so I'm sure it will be pretty soon."

"I think it might be a bit too early with C-ranks, you're not invincible, but Raidou-san is close to the Hokage, so you should be safe with him. But where is the bow I gave you?"

"It gets a bit crowded with the sword and everything else, and I've not started practising yet, I was waiting for you to show me stuff."

"I'll show you tomorrow, and don't worry, with a bit of an adjustment you can fit everything. You should be strong enough that your equipment won't weigh you down any, if not, the weight will just help you out. And more importantly, it will just make you more intimidating."

"Intimidating? I'm as intimidating as your cat."

"Hey, my cute little Sasuke is a fearsome beast," Shisui laughed. "Don't underestimate the signals you're sending. The contradiction between your cute appearance and being armed to the teeth makes the enemy unsure what to do, and in the moment of confusion, you strike."

"Thanks, I think I should go to bed now, I don't want to be tired for the team meeting tomorrow."

"Good night Sota, I'll show you my plan with the bow tomorrow. I'll find you myself you so don't have to worry about not being let into the compound"

"Good night," you said and took to the road home again hopefully for real this time.

-x-

The good thing about Raidou-sensei was that he was punctual. The moment the clock stroke 6 am, he was on his spot.

"I've got a mission for us, a simple C-rank doing some deliveries on the route to Suna. We will travel at sunset so we can go through the worst part of the desert at night. I hope you can keep up Sota, we're following a slower pace than I would normally, so it shouldn't be hard as long as you put in the effort. Now go and pack and bring your bag here so I can inspect it, I'll be back here in 3 hours so if there is something else you need to get done, you should have plenty of time," Sensei explained

"Sensei, I can use storage seals right?" You asked him.

"Yes, just make sure to organize them properly. I expect you to know where to find what," he said.

"What should I bring?"

"Prepare for the worst," he replied.

"But that doesn't tell me what to bring," you argued.

"Sota, you're not in the academy anymore. This isn't a test, if you miss something you'll be told so and you'll go get it afterwards. I'm here so you can learn from me, yes, but most importantly I'm here so you can fail safely and learn from your own experience. Go and pack now."

"Yes, Sensei," you said and ran back to your apartment.

What to bring, what to bring. Weapons of course, but what about the other necessities.

Water was a given. Then there was food, what food were you supposed to be bringing? If it was up to you, you'd bring dango, but could you store food safely inside them or would something weird happen to it.

But dango was not proper food. Would you be cooking? Was he expecting you to eat disgusting ration bars? Why couldn't Raidou give proper instructions, you wanted to butt your head into the wall.

How far was it to Suna? 2-3 days? If you stayed there a week. Cleanliness wasn't always possible on missions, but important both because your smell could be picked up by enemies or wild animals. And no one wanted to lose a fight because their dirty clothes itched at a bad moment. The norm was probably washing stuff on missions to avoid carrying too much. You'd been doing that as exercises in the academy. But you had no such carry limits. You could just put one set of clean clothes in separate sets and seal your dirty laundry.

Maybe you should ask him about the food when you meet again.

You also needed to gather some stuff at Danzo's underground lair.

On the way there you stopped by a store selling water bottles. The shelves were full of bottles and it was had to navigate through all the glass. But in the end, you found what you were looking for, a shelf of some larger bottles, it wouldn't be good to run out of water in the middle of the desert. If you bought something too small, Raidou would probably just make you buy a new one and that would be a waste of money.

"Do you need help kid?" the shopkeeper asked you.

"I'm looking for a water bottle for my first mission outside the village," you said.

The man took a look at your forehead protector. "You borrowed that from your brother?"

You frowned at him in annoyance and his eyes shifted towards the sword handle sticking up from your back. The more he looked at you the more his expression changed as he realized that you were a properly outfitted ninja.

"You're making me uncomfortable," you said.

"Oh sorry, I was just joking with you, I pull that one on every young ninja, never works really. Don't worry I'll help you and even give you a discount. Now, where are you going if you're allowed to tell?"

"I'm going to Suna, so I expect I need a lot of water."

"Yes and no. You've plenty of times to refill your bottles before entering the land of wind, and since I'll assume you'll be going at night. But the water there is crazy-expensive especially for foreigners, you should bring your own. It is just not a disaster if you run out. Just don't let yourself be tricked by the seasons. Suna a hot hellhole all year round, just because its cold here doesn't mean it's colder there."

You nodded.

"As long as you can carry it comfortably you can never get enough, but I suggest about four litres of water for you. But none of that nonsense, you were considering earlier. Carrying one big bottle is just asking for trouble. Its harder to carry around and if something goes wrong you lose all your water," he said and went back to his counter getting a bag to put your stuff in before leading you around the store.

"Seven of these should be decent," he said and put some matt glass jars into the bag. "These shouldn't shiny too much in the sun. Now you just need a couple of drinking bottles."

He leads you to two strange-looking bottles with a screw-top on both the bottom and the top.

"They're made to be easy to fill and easy to drink from. You screw off the bottom when you want to fill them, just make sure to close the top first and make sure you close the bottom properly after filling it, you know it when you got it."

"Thanks," you replied.

"If it's too heavy to carry, just fill it up less. And don't worry too much about breaking them. They should even handle being thrown at spiky rocks, but that doesn't mean you should test your luck."

You nodded and followed him to the counter so you could pay.

After getting some more things you needed, you finally arrived at your underground room, as you had plenty of time, there was something you wanted to try.

You took a long strip of paper and dug a small hole on one end and started drawing a storage seal around it. If everything went to plan, you should be able to seal kunai inside it and have it be hooked in the hole when releasing it again.

A quick attempt later and the plan worked, the kunai was hanging nicely at the end. The only thing that missed now was putting an explosion seal on the other end. This way you could store your explosive kunai much easier. You made a handful before stocking your bag with different other explosive tags, along with the other stuff you had packed and made sure to write descriptive labels on the back of all the storage seals and grabbed another handful from your drawer for the jars you had bought.

How well does the water from the sink taste down here? There was only one way to find out and that was to take a sip.

Not so bad, you reasoned and started filling up your bottles. Though would the water go bad till you reached Suna? You'd just look and see what the rest of the team did about it.

-x-

Soon after you'd left Danzo's base Shisui approached you. "Hi Sota, are you ready with your bow today?"

"Yes," you turned around in a little swirl to show it on your back.

"Good, follow me," he said.

As you were walking, there was one thing you had to ask. "Have you talked to Itachi today?"

"He was still sleeping when I went over. Kakashi is considering taking him out on a mission. Not anything hard, just something he can use as an excuse for a vacation."

It didn't take long before you arrived at the training ground. Based on the length of the area and the targets on the end, it looked like it was for long-distance accuracy.

"I want you to throw your kunai as far as you can,"

You nodded and got into a proper stance, you knew you need to throw it on an angle, doing it at full power was a bit tricky but you tried your best.

"That was pathetic," you mumbled as you saw it not even going half the distance of the field.

"Sota, you're missing the point, now we're going to do the same with your bow."

You unhooked it from your back and grabbed an arrow from your bag and began trying to shoot.

Clumsy was a good way to describe your attempt.

"Let me help you."

He guided your hands to the correct spot on the bow and guided the other was you thread the end of the arrow onto the bowstring. Now push forward your left arm while pulling back your right, but don't let loose yet.

You nodded and pulled the bow.

"Now aim halfway up for the maximum distance," he said and guided your arm up in a 45-degree angle.

"Lastly, pull back as far as you can before releasing it."

You let go of the string and the arrow shoot forwards into the air much farther than your kunai throw.

This was fun.

"Do you see what you can do with this?" Shisui asked.

You shook your head. "It won't be easy to aim at my enemy this way."

"You don't need to be very accurate, instead of putting explosive tags on kunai, put it on your arrows. The enemy won't see it coming."

"That's cruel and …"

"Badass. Sometimes ambushes are the way to go. Better them than us right. Though I hope it will be some time till you'll be using this, the missions your sensei likes to take often requires giving his enemies an early retirement. He is a responsible person, so you don't need to worry about getting seriously injured or killed. There are other people in your life you should a lot more worried about,"

"A voice in my head tells me that I should run and get far away from him and the village. But I need to get stronger, I cannot run. Everything is fine for the moment, he doesn't seem intent at hurting me again as long as I play nice I think. I got a task from him yesterday, nothing bad at all, a bit tedious maybe but good practise"

"Sota, he's conditioning you. He starts with innocent tasks you might even enjoy, and before you know it, you've your sword deep inside a noble somewhere in enemy territory. You should tell the Hokage, tell him to help you get out."

"I'm fine. I made a friend down there, they'll watch over me. They've already covered for me when it comes to my fear of thunder and provided me with food when they weren't supposed to. They're taking a risk on my behalf and the least I can do is putting some trust in them."

"I'll concede for now, but please seek help before it is too late, deal?"

"Deal"

-x-

There wasn't much time left, but you arrived on time. Kabuto and Torune were whispering something to each other.

"Hi," you waved to them.

They quickly moved away from each other. It looked like they had been talking about you while waiting. Probably not good things, not that you blamed them.

You needed to be more friendly with Torune, there was no reason not to. He seemed like a good kid. The next years would be miserable without any friends on the team.

"Torune, have you been to Suna before?" You asked him.

"Yes, I have."

"So how is it there?"

"Dry and hot, my bugs hate it there, I wish we didn't have to go," he said.

His black outfit could impossible help much under the sun. It was a wonder how Kakuro manage to live his entire life there with his black outfit.

"Sometimes you have to do things you don't want do to Torune, you just need to figure out how to deal with it, it's a learning experience like everything else. And Sota, black clothing isn't as bad as you think it is, it is quite good at expelling the heat."

"Huh?" you exclaimed.

"Sota, I can read your face and how you're looking at his clothes. But that black mask for yours is not good Torune, its too thin and close to your head. I say this every time we're going to Suna and every time you complain not being able to stand the heat."

"But I like it sensei and it hides my eyes nicely. It is you guys that are weird and show of your eyes for everyone to see."

"Alongside Sota's eyes, no one would pay much attention to mine and Sensei's eyes," Kabuto said and turn to you with a smile "Not that there's anything wrong with them of course. They suit you."

What's up with him trying to be nice to you after you clear dismissal attitude.

"Thanks." You just had to give in. Maybe Kabuto would be less pushy if you just stopped pushing back on his friendliness and more importantly if you wanted to befriend Torune, being visible an ass towards Kabuto might not be the best idea.

"Now let me check your bags to see if you've packed properly. Sota you're first."

You showed him the bag with the seals.

"Open them up," Raidou told you.

"Is that really necessary, it says on the seals what's in them."

"How do I know you've put what you say it is inside them? Or that you've not done anything else wrong?"

"I guess you've got a point," you said and started revealing the content of your seals. "I wasn't sure about the food, so I've not gotten anything yet."

"Don't worry about that, I'll provide that for our missions unless I say otherwise. But you haven't brought any snacks I've seen, why is that?"

"I didn't know if it was proper. But why didn't you tell me to not bring food so I didn't have to think about it?"

"You need to trust your team and don't worry if you make a mistake. I told you this earlier. And for your other question, morale is quite important on missions. If you've got a bad time, maybe not have had enough sleep, the weather might be crap, you're not going to fight as effectively. Keeping some snack on you to improve your mood will make you fight better and make sure your team doesn't die. I might have gotten a reputation for being too serious and too much of a buzzkill, but I'm not stupid.

"Now we're going to set up camp. Kabuto, take the lead," he ordered.

"Why set up a camp here in the middle of the village, we've not gone anywhere?"

"Have you done this before?"

You shook your head.

"Exactly, now go and help your team set up the tents."

The tents were easy to set up and Kabuto was pretty decent at giving you and Torune instructions.

"Good work everyone. Torune and Kabuto, I checked your bags, everything is in order. Now we'll stay here till sunset. Try to get some sleep, we'll be running all night. Sota, you'll be sharing tents with me."

This felt silly, but you just had to listen to your sensei. It wasn't easy to get to sleep as you weren't that tired, but you just had to try.

Trying to sleep was hopeless. There was too much energy inside you, and the bright light of the day didn't make it any better. The noise outside the tent made it even harder to sleep. Raidou-sensei managed it somehow, at least he wasn't snoring. How did ninja with snoring issues deal with it, because it didn't seem like a good trait to have if you were trying to keep hidden or if your teammates were trying to sleep?

You stepped outside the tent to see Kabuto and Torune sparring.

"Shouldn't we be sleeping now?" You asked them.

They stepped away from each other and Kabuto began to answer you. "Exercise makes it easier to sleep."

"Yeah, that makes sense," you replied.

"I want to challenge you," Kabuto said.

"Why?"

"You struggle sleeping too, don't you? So why don't you get the energy out of the system?"

"I don't get tired easily, at least not from physical activity."

"But I'm tired of you. You've been nasty towards me since we met. I don't know why. You're nice to Torune and Raidou, what have I done to you? I want to fight you!"

You looked at him. He didn't seem that mad, but that could just be him being able to keep his facial expression in check.

So what should you do, did you really have any choice? As so often with everything else, you found it easier to just give in than fight it.

"Okay, what are the rules?"

"Only taijutsu, no other tricks or Jutsu," he explained.

You nodded.

Torune started counting down. "Three, Two, One, Go."

Kabuto just stood there in a defensive stance, waiting for you to strike.

One of you had to take the initiative, so you charged at him. A foot hit you right in your stomach and you crumbled to the ground, too fast for you to see. Itachi was fast too, but not this bad to deal with, even if you were unable to defeat Itachi. Was he going easy on you, or were you too used to Itachi's trick by now?

You got up again and waited for Kabuto to do his thing. But as more and more time passed, nothing happened. It felt like minutes and he simply just stood there, waiting for you to attack.

"Why are you not attacking!" You yelled at him.

"There are several reasons for that Sota. I want you to figure out why."

Why did everyone have to play games?

You began to run circles around Kabuto in the hope that it would help to make him more disoriented by forcing him to track your movements. Was there anything else you could use? The ground was flat and you were not allowed any tools. You had the dirt itself, while you were not going to pick up a scoop to throw it at him, kicking up dirt as you were moving would not be breaking any rules or go against the spirit of the spar.

You picked up the speed for a moment you give you a greater momentum before digging your foot into the ground to kick up a spray of dirt and swiftly charged at Kabuto again, keeping even closer attention to any counter moves this time.

As you saw him cover his face, you knew you had him. You could revenge your stomach by driving your fist into his. But alas, another foot kicked you in the ribs throwing you to the side.

"That's better Sota."

"I can do this all day long, I've had much worse thrown at me than this. Why can't you attack for once?"

"You're attacking me and I'm able to counter you every time, so why should I risk it by attacking first?"

He was right, but that didn't make it any less annoying. You wanted to cheat so much now. Explosions were out of the questions, but could you do something else...?

Maybe charging was the wrong move, what if you approached him slower?

You moved towards him with steady steps while holding your defensive stance, but faster than you could blink, you got thrown up in the air as soon as you got into his reach. With no time to adjust your bearings, you fell down again. Your foot hit the ground at an angle, making an unnatural sound in the process.

The air around you suddenly became different.

"What's going on?" You asked.

"Genjutsu, your leg is fine Sota, I wouldn't dare to injure you right before a mission, Raidou-sensei would have my neck."

"Didn't you say taijutsu only?"

"I had already cast it before I said it, so it doesn't count," he smiled.

"So what was the point if you were just going to cheat?"

"To show you that I'm not a danger, that you can trust me. I didn't attack you, I only responded when you attacked me. Please let us be friends."

"This entire gesture could be a lie," you said and casting a genjutsu in that manner was not a sign of trust.

He sighed, "Please sleep on it."

"Okay, I can do that."

No amount of sleep would make you trust that bastard.

"If only I can get myself to sleep," you turned around. "Where did Torune go?"

"He was asleep the entire time. I stayed awake to talk to you, as I guessed you wouldn't be able to sleep. But I can help you, all it takes is a simple genjutsu and you'll fall into a deep sleep if you allow me. What do you say?"

If he had some ulterior motives, he wouldn't need to ask you before casting any other genjutsu on it, so it didn't matter, and the help was needed now.

You nodded and with a quick move from Kabuto's hands, your eyes got heavy and your body gave in.

-x-

You felt a hand pushing on your side and your eyes shot open.

"Good evening Sota, it's time to go."

"Good morning sensei."

You began helping Raidou taking down the tent and gathered your things. Raidou handed each of you another bag to carry, you the smallest while he took the largest for himself.

When you arrived at the gate for Raidou to inform the guards about your departure, you could hear a voice calling out from the village.

"Sota, Sota, wait," you could hear Naruto yell.

You turned around and saw him run towards you.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving bastard," he wasn't mad or anything. His face smiling.

"I'm sorry, Shisui told you right?"

He nodded. "What are you going to do? Kick some bandit's ass, save some princess from evil missing-nin?"

"We won't be doing that kind of stuff like that kid."

"Oh," Naruto replied. "What will you be doing then?"

"Mission information is secret during the mission, Sota may or may not be allowed to tell you more when we're back, but right now, we cannot tell you anything."

"Can I tag along if you're not going to do any fighting? I've not been outside the village before and I'll..."

"No, you're too young and not a genin yet."

"I'm older than Sota," Naruto protested.

"You're not a ninja and not prepared. Things might go wrong and you'll be putting your friend and the rest of the team in danger if we've to protect you too."

Naruto's facial expression started to fade and his mask dropped. His voice went from happy and excited to quite mellow. "I'm worried about my friend, Sota seem to have a lot of bad luck and have gotten injured a lotta times. Family protect each other. What if he loses his leg or something because I wasn't there and he can't be a ninja anymore?"

"Naruto, I'll be fine. Sensei is strong and won't let anything bad happen to me. I'll come back in one piece, I'll promise."

"You better keep that promise or I'll kick your ass bastard! I'll be waiting here for you till you come back."

"That..." He would figure it out later that he couldn't wait here that long. "Goodbye Naruto."

You stepped through the gate for your first time. It was time to get going, it was time to run.

-x-

This was just like at the academy, just with much more interesting scenery and you were no longer the fastest. The others had to slow down to accommodate your short legs, but your stamina should ensure that you could keep your top speed for the entire journey.

You kept silent and just focused on the journey forward until you got a bit of deja-vu. You saw a couple of puddles of water in front of you, without hesitation you got some of the explosive kunai from your pouch and threw it at them.

The others saw what you were doing and was screeching to a halt, dirt and water were spraying in every direction.

"Sota, what are you doing?!" Raidou-sensei yelled.

"I... I thought there was an ambush. The rest of the road has been dry, so I feared someone was hiding there," you explained.

"And you thought I wouldn't have noticed if someone was ambushing us?"

"I thought you were testing us, maybe testing me, so I just had to act."

"Sota, I'm not sure if I explained this well enough earlier, but I don't play around on missions. I don't put you in harm's way for a test. I'm able to detect and deal with most ambush attempts before you can even notice them, I would never let you guys deal with it for yourself. If you think we've missed someone, warn us, not just throw explosives around. That being said, your response was good if there was a danger there. Though you're missing one important fact, I'll give you a chance to notice it yourself."

You looked around at the broken ground, trying to come up with something, but you were blank.

"I've no idea."

"Look above the puddles, see the branches and the tree. The shade makes it take longer for the water to evaporate, so even if the rest of the road had time to dry, these would still be wet from the previous rain."

"Oh." Yeah, that made perfect sense. Real-life wasn't anime. Things weren't going to go bad on this mission for the sake of tension. Why did a part of your brain still not take this seriously?

"Let me repair the road before we go," Raidou said and performed an earth Jutsu to fill in the holes you'd made.

"Sensei, do you think we could take a bit of a break? I'm a bit shaky," Torune asked.

"I don't see why not," Raidou replied and raised the ground into a makeshift bench for you to sit on.

You sat down and took a sip of your water.

"You need to practise more with those together with the team if you want to use them around us, you didn't do anything wrong now, but in a proper fight, unless you've control over your teammates and the teammates are aware of your attack, they might accidentally get into the blast zone when the tags explode."

"You're right I guess, you guys depends a lot on close-range attacks. While I don't have any tricks other than the explosives I make, I'm physically weaker than everyone else, while I've got the stamina to last, that wouldn't matter if people can overpower me before they get tired."

"

"I'm sure we can figure something out, you're still young. You could become a kind of ambusher for the team until you learn more. Do like you did today, open up with a strong enough attack and let us do the rest and just focus on defending yourself."

"I don't want to be useless, I want to help out the team in fights too."

"We'll take it slow early on right, I'll promise you that you'll be prepared for the Chuunin exam, while you might not win, I would hope that you could give Kabuto the push he needs to get promoted."

"Do you have any idea on any ninjutsu I could use in battle that doesn't endanger my team?" You asked him.

"Not at the moment, but I'll ask around when we come back. If you can figure out some kind of seal that affects everyone, but gives us the edge, that would be nice."

Thinking about it for a moment, it became obvious that any defensive seal could be useful, defend against an attack you were not using.

"I'll work on it sensei," you replied.

"Good, now do you think they've had long enough break?"

You took another sip of your water bottle before nodding.

"All right boys, we need to get going again," Raidou sensei called out.

-x-

After many more hours of running, you saw a tall tower in the distance.

"That's our first stop boys," Raidou said and pointed at the building.

It laid right off the road, fenced off by metal fencing. It looked more like it was to warn civilians rather than to keep anyone actually out.

"Be careful with the metal rods in the ground," Raidou said.

"What are they?" You asked.

"They connect to the tower, so if anyone tries to attack it, someone can discharge a large amount of electricity and fry anyone standing near one of the spikes," Raidou-sensei explained.

"But they are everywhere," you pointed out.

"Exactly, wouldn't be a good trap if people could dodge them."

"I guess you're right."

It wasn't the only security measurement. The wall of the tower was laid with spikes, so no hope of climbing it from the ground, and you couldn't jump over them either. The last piece of defence you could see was a metal cage surrounding the base of the tower.

"What is your purpose here," A Konoha nin at the top of the tower yelled down at your team.

"We're Team 4 with supplies from Konoha," Raidou yelled back.

"Alright, you can enter."

Sensei guided you through the metal cage, as you went around the tower to get to the door, you noticed that you were walking on metal pipes with many small holes in them, it looked like something was flowing inside them. Oil perhaps? So if any attacker passed the lighting rods, they'll be burnt inside here before they could reach the door. Effective but brutal. Hopefully, they wouldn't activate it by a mistake. You hadn't brought with you any fire absorption seals, you definitely should for the next mission.

Raidou pushed a card inside a slot on the door, moments later it opened and you followed him in alongside Kabuto and Torune.

"You're earlier than we expected, got a new member I see," the Konoha-nin inside looked at you.

"Uzumaki Sota, nice to meet you," you said.

"I hadn't expected him to keep up as well as he did, so I apologize for being here too early."

"No need to apologize for that Raidou, life here is mostly boring. You're more likely to see action in a graveyard than here. And Sota, I'm Harada-san."

You nodded in approval.

"Dinner isn't ready yet, help me with the supplies Raidou will you. And kids, you can go to the common area, I assume you know very well where it is by now Kabuto?"

Kabuto nodded.

You handed your bag to Raidou and followed Kabuto up the stairs, but he held you back by the shirt.

"Just go up you two, I need to talk to Sota in private," Raidou said and turned to you when they were out of ears range. "Please be nicer to Kabuto, I expect all of you to behave on missions, and part of that involves keeping each others morale up. So whatever issue you have with him, bury it, and if you need to, pretend. Look at this as a bonus mission, make Kabuto think you're his friend and it's up to you if it's for real or not."

"Why do you want me to lie to him?" You asked.

"Go up and join them," he said, dodging the question.

When you got up into the hallway above, you couldn't see anyone and the doors were not revealing their content. And there were several more floors above, so you knew better than to try all of them for several reasons.

"Kabuto, Torune," you called out, hoping that one of them would hear you.

A few seconds later a door at the end of the corridor opened and you could see Torune's head poking out.

"In here," he said before quickly going back in.

As you entered the room, you saw him playing Shogi with Kabuto using what looked like a chess clock.

No wonder why he was in a hurry. With just a few seconds between each move, it was much faster than the calm pace between you and Shikamaru.

It was too quick for you to even follow their moves, the only proper sign of how it was going was Torune looking slightly more frustrated before he finally resigned.

"Do you know how to play?" Kabuto asked with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I've played a couple of times with a classmate, but this is going too fast for me."

"So you're up for a few rounds then, I can set it up for you so you can play against Torune," he said and started to move the pieces back to their starting position.

"I just said it is too fast for me," you grumbled.

"That's fine, just use your time early on and don't worry about running out of time."

"But I'll lose," you retorted.

"This is just a game, you can lose and learn from your mistakes. It is good training, there is no use of being able to make perfect plans in a real battle, you need to think on the spot and make the best moves in the time available, even if it's not the best move. If you can make your opponent struggle to come up with a new plan, you'll quickly win," Kabuto explained. "And sometimes when the ninja here doesn't have a lot of time, being quick ensures that they'll get to finish most of their games."

"All Right, I'll play you Torune," you said.

He put a smile on his face and made his first move and pushed down on the clock.

Every second felt like a missed opportunity as you tried to think about how to open this. How much damage could you do in your first move anyway? So you followed your gut feeling and made your move.

Move after move, both your position on the board and the clock got weaker. You clutched your head as you tried coming up with something that could dig your out this situation.

"Relax Sota, being stressed out doesn't help you think clearer," Kabuto said.

"I know, I know," you replied. It was easier said than done.

"Just keep on going till you can relax."

"I'm trying," you mumbled back and you looked at the clock counting down to zero.

Kabuto was right, you couldn't act like this. It was how your difficult battles tended to end, you got more and more frustrated until you did something stupid and lost consciousness.

"Again?" You asked Torune.

He nodded back and you put back the pieces.

Before you could make your first move, he swiftly switched two pieces you had misplaced.

Okay Sota, this is the plan. Don't look at the clock, it doesn't exist, just move in a reasonable time. Control your breath, in and out at a steady pace.

This was much better and you played better, yes you played slower, but you just had to live with that. But now you were at least able to keep up with him and make traps for him.

It wouldn't last forever and soon the clock gave a small beep to alert you that your time had run out.

"Kabuto, I'm a bit confused. First, you say I need to play fast since I won't have any time to plan in the field, but now you tell me to take it slow. I lose anyway, so what's the point?"

"What happened your first game?"

"I lost," you replied.

"What more?"

"I ran out of time and was about to be crushed on the board."

"So what does that tell you?"

"That playing fast isn't working."

"And what happened the next game?"

"I lost because I was too slow. There is no winning."

"But you didn't lose on the board, with practice you'll speed up and learn better time management."

"You're right I guess."

"And there is something else I want to show you," he said and rearranged the pieces to a previous position.

"What was your plan here?"

"I had formed a threat against his position and was trying to attack him, but he managed to defend himself in the end."

"The threat of a move is often better than the move itself. By keeping the possibility open, Torune would have to take that into account for every move he made, so instead of attacking right away, you could try to improve your position until you're sure it works. And if the enemy isn't familiar with you, they'll just have to take your word that you're able to properly execute the plan and that you're not bluffing."

"How do I bluff in battle?"

"Pretend you're doing one thing while you're doing another. You don't need to be able to blow fireballs to make your enemy think you can. Make the hand signs, suck in air and blow out. When they realize that you're bluffing, they'll have dodged it like any normal fireball."

"It doesn't seem smart to rely on fake attacks?"

"Would you bet on your enemy not knowing the attack they're using against you?"

"No, because if I'm wrong I'll risk being roasted."

"Exactly, and you can even use it more than once as they don't know if you were bluffing about bluffing and the next time it's real. But if you know real attacks that can be used, you're better off using those while you've chakra."

"Thanks."

"Are you ready for food," you could hear Raidou ask from the doorway.

You nodded and helped Torune packing up the shogi board.

-x-

The dining hall was filled with people already, but there were four empty seats for you at the end of the table. Raidou must have reserved them for you.

"First time you're here?" an unknown ninja next you asked. You turned to him, short brown hair, brown eyes, quite nondescript.

You nodded.

"I'm Suzuki Haruki," he introduced himself.

"I'm Uzumaki Sota," you replied.

"Do you want to take a look at the top of the tower?"

"No thanks," you replied.

"No need to be shy or are you afraid of the height?"

"I'm not afraid," you calmly replied.

"I understand I was also afraid of heights when I was your age."

"I'm not afraid, I just don't care."

"So if you're chasing someone, all they need to do is to climb up a tree and their safe from you?"

"Even if I was afraid of height, that wouldn't be a problem. I could blow up the tree they're sitting in or shooting explosive kunai up into the branches. But if it will make you stop your childish teasing, I'll take a look."

"Aren't you a bit young to call anyone childish?"

"Aren't you a bit old to be childish?"

"Being a bit childish makes life much more fun. You should be excited about new experiences. But somehow you seem like a grumpy old person trapped in the body of a seven-year-old."

"Let me just finish eating, I need food after running all day. "

-x-

Suzuki was guiding you to the top. And there was quite a lot of steps to traverse, the disadvantage of your short legs was even more apparent now than normal. It would be much easier to just walk up the walls than this. Though the spikes on the outside stopped that plan.

There had to be a better way to deal with stairs. Would body flicker fling you up? You should ask Shisui to teach you when you got back.

How much could you even use it? With lots of chakra, how long could you keep it up? Truth to be told, you'd no idea how it worked, all you know was that it was not teleporting and it wasn't perfect or else people would use it all the time, and so far you couldn't remember seeing any use of it.

But with everything else bad, these stairs didn't last forever and you were soon at the top.

Views like this didn't usually excite you, but taking a look at the equipment up here wasn't too bad.

The outer edge of the tower was filled with several ballistas and the bolts were loaded with large explosive seals. So that was were Shisui had gotten the idea of firing tags with your bow.

"You want to try firing it?" Shizuki asked.

"Wouldn't it be a waste of resources?" You asked.

"We're supposed to test those regularly, make sure neither we or them get rusty. Sure we don't have a ton of tags but then we don't have a ton of actual targets to use them on either. Wait a minute, aren't you the kid who got blown up by Fugaku's son? You're still okay with explosions after what happened?"

"Yes, they are still fun and I might be a bit obsessed with them. And I might have scared my teammates earlier by blowing a puddle of water that I thought was enemy ninja"

"They'll get over it, surprises are ninja's worst enemy, but as with every other enemy you need to know how to deal with it."

"But if you're prepared for everything, is there anything left to be surprised by?"

"Exactly. The best way to keep yourself and others safe, is to make sure you don't have any enemies to begin with. Though you cannot be prepared for everything, and when you think you've prepared for everything the moon will wake up and reveal itself to be an Eldritch abomination."

"So if I prepare for the moon to wake up and try to kill us all, I'm set?"

"Don't worry Sota, the moon is just a piece of rock far far away."

If only you knew.

"And how would you even prepare to kill off an Eldritch Abomination, the moon might look small, but it is much bigger than anything else you've seen."

Without Matatabi, Akatsuki would be no way to revive the 10-tails. That's how you prepare. Though that was easier said than done.

"I'll make sure that the moon can't wake up," you answered.

"Enough about non-existing threats. Get your hands on the handles and start moving it around. It can be a bit heavy for you, but you should be able to move it around."

You nodded and got a grip. It was a bit of a struggle to get it into motion, but you got it moving.

"What should I aim for?" You asked.

"You see the other holes in the grass over there?" He asked pointed to a piece of land that by the look of it had been hit a lot in the past.

You nodded.

"Just aim around there."

You turned around the handles and slowly got it into position.

"How do I fire?"

"Just press hard on the lever down on the floor," Suzuki suggested.

You stepped on it, but nothing happened.

"Try harder."

It didn't help. You could stand on it and it wouldn't budge.

"I forgot that children are light as feathers. Let me help you."

He pushed it down with ease and the large bolt flew through the air and as soon as it had dug into the ground it exploded throwing dirt up into the air.

Explosions would never stop cheering you up.

"How do you make sure the bolts explode when they hit the ground?" You asked.

"Uhh, I've no idea. We just get them shipped from Konoha, all I need to know is that we can fire them and they go boom when they hit the target."

"Can I take a look at one?"

"Ah, you make your own seals, yeah I remember Genma bragging about how good of a teacher he is."

"I quickly moved on from him, so can I take a look?"

"Sure I don't see the harm," he replied.

You picked up the stack of blank paper and a brush from your bag and started studying the seal.

It wasn't very complex as you quickly noticed with everything divided into four clear parts. First, it detected if he was moving quickly which feed into a part which could detect if the seal had stopped moving before sending the signal into the explosive part blowing it up. And of course, a primer in the start to prevent it from going off in transit.

You carefully copied it down, leaving out the explosive part as including it was just an unnecessary risk till you were able to study it closer.

"Thanks for the help, I was unsure how to deal with it, as trying to time myself before throwing was too unreliable."

"You're welcome. I hope I'll never become your enemy in the future because at the pace you seem to improve you'll outrank me in a couple of years."

"Are you a Chuunin or Jounin?" You asked.

"I'm a Chuunin, most of us are with one or two jounin commanding the place. Genin are only here for short visits like your team. It's not a bad place to be stationed when you get promoted, we're not just watching out for threats in the area, we also distribute supplies some of the supplies we get from Konoha to the nearby towers and do small missions in the area.

"The fire in the middle here isn't just to keep us warm. Our secondary purpose is to relay signals between the borderlands and the village. See the glow in the distance," he said and pointed to a faint glow in the horizon.

"Yeah."

"We've powder we use to flare up the fire in different colours. Apart from a few instances, I can't tell you, we just relay things without having any idea what is being said. So if anyone captures this place, they'll get nothing useful from intercepting the communication and we've some trickery that prevents you from seeing the fire from the ground. But that won't happen even in war times. It's the paradox of fortifications like this. We've got the most firepower but will use the least as the enemy will just go for a target further away. But we can at least provide a safe haven for nearby friendly ninja if a problem occurs and along with patrols, it makes this road quite safe.

"Aren't you telling me a bit much, aren't some of this sensitive information?"

"Not really, even a mediocre spy would quickly figure out this on their own and it is not like we rely too much on any of this to stay secret. So I see nothing wrong teaching you how things work out here. You seem like a smart kid, so I know you won't be foolish enough to try to use any of this to attack us."

"I'll promise that I'll leave you alone then if I ever decide to leave and turn on the village. But if you'll think you'll get beaten by a seven-year-old, you might try to up the defence."

"Thanks, now I can sleep safely at night," he laughed.

"I think I'm started to get sleepy," you yawned.

"I'll follow down to where you'll be sleeping."

-x-

As you were laying there in your bed, your thoughts went back to Kabuto. There was simply no way to prove he was not a spy. Yes, he was friendly, nice and helpful. But so was Kabuto during the Chuunin exam. So if he was an Orochimaru spy, how he acted now was exactly how he'd act.

If Orochimaru would have the chance to recruit a Jinchuuriki he'd take it. Especially since in his eyes, you were an easily influenced seven-year-old boy. So why not task Kabuto to recruit you. It wasn't like he was in any hurry either, so there was no reason to suspect any funny behaviour from him in the near future, just slow play over time. Originally Kabuto spent many years in Konoha before his betrayal was out in the open with him casting the big feathery Genjutsu during Sasuke and Gaara's fight.

But if this was the plan, Orochimaru would be wrong. You were not an easily influenced seven-year-old. There was nothing Kabuto or anything anyone else could say to make you go against the village and leave. Sure, you didn't have any inherent loyalty to the village, but it was still your home, you were stupid enough to become a ninja and you had friends here you wanted to protect. So you were committed to sticking to it and where would you even go? You'd be chased down in an instant to retrieve the two-tails.

"Problem sleeping again Sota?" Kabuto asked. Where did he come from? He wasn't sleeping next to you.

What should you say...

"Do you want help? I can cast the genjutsu on you again."

Again, if he wanted to do something nefarious, he didn't need your consent, so you just nodded.

A big yawn later and you were out.

-x-

Next morning Kabuto woke you up. "Good morning Sota."

"Good morning Buto," you said half asleep.

"We should take a bath before breakfast, they've quite nice baths here" he suggested.

"Will Raidou and Torune join us?"

"Torune is too shy and Raidou likes to take his baths in private if he can. Rumours have it that he has a thing for rubber ducks and no one has been able to disprove it yet."

"So just us two…"

"Anything wrong?"

How did you feel about it? You didn't like this. This was not the way to convince you that he was not a spy.

"It will make you feel nice, we'll have a lot of running today too, you must be sore?"

"I don't feel sore, my body heals fast. But I guess I might need a bath, so I'll join you."

"Get your towel and a change of clothes and I'll show the way."

-x-

The water was nice and hot, so it was worth coming down here. You still didn't like being here along with Kabuto who sat across of you.

"Is there anything bothering since you're struggling to sleep?" He asked.

"No," it was none of his business at the moment.

"Are you still living at the orphanage?"

"No."

"You're not very talkative, I'm not making you uncomfortable am I?"

Surely he knew what he was doing.

"It's just that there isn't much to say about, I don't remember anything from before a year ago. I don't remember anything from any orphanage."

"Oh. Have you thought about visiting it again? I'm sure sensei can help you track it down."

"What is the point of going back to a place I don't remember and feel no connection to?"

"Maybe it will help you remember? Maybe you've some friends there that miss you?"

Something in you broke down or at least that would explain why you were crying with your face buried in your knees.

"Sota…"

You blocked out his voice and flailed your arms around for a moment. How could you cope with this when you didn't even know what was wrong?

You weren't able to fully understand what was going on around you, just that the water disappeared around you and you gradually got dryer and then clothed.

All you could feel right now was the desire to lie down and not wake up again.

-x-

"Sota, are you better now?" you heard sensei's voice asking.

You sat yourself up in the bed and turned to him. "Yeah, just a bit hungry"

The bad feeling was gone and you still had no idea what had felt so wrong. Last time something like that had happened was with the thunderstorm, was there some sort of connection here?

You could smell the smell of hot soup.

"I brought some food for you, you've slept past breakfast. We may be a bit late to Suna, but don't worry about it. Do you need help eating?"

"I can eat on my own," you replied and grabbed the bowl.

"Just so you know, Kabuto didn't tell me much of details. So if you want me to know, you can tell me when you're ready."

"It's nothing."

"All right. Should I get more soup for you or anything else you want?"

There was still some soup left, but you were not hungry for more of it, so you handed it to Raidou. You wanted something sweet.

"I'm not hungry for soup, but do you have dango?"

"I'm sorry. You know what, when we're back in Konoha I'll buy you some."

"Thanks, sensei."

"Are you ready to go or do you need more time?" Raidou asked.

"We're already late, so we cannot delay things further," you said.

"I'm not leaving without knowing that my team is okay, this mission isn't that time-sensitive, we can afford to be a day late if so needed."

"It doesn't affect me. I react to memories I no longer have. As if there is someone else inside me that is breaking down and taking me with them."

"Then I'll trust your judgement, your stuff is already packed so don't worry about that. I'll go fetch Kabuto and Torune."

How was Itachi doing right now? He was strong, he'd deal with this and you could just hope things were okay between him and Sasuke when you arrived back home. Their bond was too strong to be broken by what had happened. Itachi would help Sasuke out with the training and he would shoot fireballs in no time and without any graduation exam for Sasuke, he wouldn't be worried about his brother getting hurt by graduating too early. Everything would go back to how it should be.

Yeah, that was the right way to think about matters. Your mood was back up, and you felt you could conquer the world right now. You grabbed your bag and headed outside where the rest of the team was waiting for you.

Another day of running was ahead of you and it didn't matter right now, you were going to push through it like it was nothing.

-x-

You could feel the climate getting warmer and warmed as you approached the border.

Raidou slowed down as you approached the river.

"This is the last chance to fill up your water bottles before we enter the desert, so make sure to fill up."

The bottle salesman might have sold you a bit too much, as there was plenty of water left even though you hadn't refilled them since leaving Konoha. He seemed nice and helping. But of course, it was just a ploy. He advised you against some of his own products, which meant that he was purposefully stocked up goods he didn't intend to sell in order to seem more helping. Danzo would be proud of that sneakiness.

"Sota, do you know how to run in the sand?" Raidou asked.

"Uhh."

"You know how to walk on water, trees?" You could hear the worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I can do both."

With a sigh of relief, he continued. "Good, it is almost like water walking, just easier. You want to spread out your chakra when kicking off and landing, but other than that, you don't need to worry about balance too much. The important part is to avoid having your feet dig into the sand. Got it?"

You nodded. It sounded easy enough, but that was also your thoughts the first time you tried tree walking.

"I don't want to stop in the middle of the desert, so if you need a break, now is the time."

It looked like Torune was in the mood for a break, so you took a sip of water before dropping to the ground.

What this how life would be from now on? Lots of running from place to place? Though in a few years, you'd probably look back at this as relaxing. Konoha wouldn't want you as a glorified currier forever. Be it for your sealing abilities or the cat.

Torune laid down next to you, but he didn't say anything.

"Is this all you do, running from place to place?" You asked him. "I heard rumours about Raidou-sensei preferring missions with more fighting."

"Not with us, but I know he takes missions on the side while we've time off to train or rest. We did a lot of search and rescue with Hana. But without her tracking abilities, I guess we'll do less of it from now on."

"Your bugs can't be used to track people?"

"No, they're too small for that. They're mostly useful for hurting people, but I don't like using them for that. So I hope Sensei won't take any missions requiring that."

"Oh."

"But it doesn't mean we're not useful here. If we're getting attacked, I'm prepared to do my part, even if it means someone getting hurt," Torune said.

"I know, I just think I'll get bored doing this for years. I kind of wish for action, even if I don't want to hurt people either. Some people need to be taken down, but not sure if they deserve to be blown up."

You were in a bit of a pickle. You were encouraged from several sources to be a dangerous force. If those puddles of water actually had demon brothers in them, they might very well be dead now. So when you said you didn't want to hurt people, who were speaking? The upstanding you that knew that potentially killing people weren't the way to live life. Or Sota who had been raised to think about things quite differently and was heavily influenced by your actions. You were giving him all sorts of deadly tools and expect him no not use them? Or did you just blame these tendencies on Sota, while you were the real problem? One thing was for certain, some of the explosives tags in your bag would kill someone one day, and it would be all your fault.

"Life will find a way. You should find someone who can teach you. I would help, but most of what I know involves bugs."

"You're right I guess. Water could be useful but I'm not sure if I've got an affinity for it."

Water would be very easy to put in seals, but could you use them for anything useful once sealed?

"You should ask sensei if he can test it?"

"I'll probably have fire," you said. With Matatabi's blue fire, it made the most sense.

"Alright boys, ready to get going again?" Raidou asked. Not a long break, but if the others were okay with his impatience, so were you.

You nodded and got up, it was time to face the desert.

-x-

The run through the sand was a lot less bad than expected. The air was dry but without the sun. The sandy landscape was rather a bit chilly which helped cool you down from all the running. It was just in the last hour or so you started to feel it. But Raidou made sure you drank more than enough water to keep yourself hydrated.

The entrance to Suna was much more majestic in real life than in the anime. The sun shining through the gap in the cliffside. Raidou-sensei had slowed down, probably as a sign of non-aggression or something before slowly approached the guards.

"State your name and purpose," one of the Suna guards demanded.

"I'm Namiashi Raidou and this is Team 4, Uzumaki Sota, Kabuto and Aburame Torune. We're here with deliveries from Konoha," Sensei explained as gestured towards each of you. "Just some letters and documents." He patted his bag for emphasis.

"Wait here and I'll take a look," the guard said and went back to the guard booth and checked his papers before heading back towards you.

"Everything seems to be in order. You need to be out again within 24 hours, cause no trouble," he said and stepped out of your way.

The cliff walls were quite menacing as you walked through them.

"Sensei, how many traps are there in here?" You asked.

"Plenty to kill us several times, but Suna isn't our enemy, you've nothing to worry about as long as we don't get on their bad side," he replied.

That was reassuring.

While the city inside was decently sized, it didn't help you feel a bit locked in as the cliffs encompassed you in every direction, partially putting the village in the shadow of the sun.

"I'm sure you're tired, we'll get to the inn and get some food and then you can sleep. I'll handle the deliveries."

"That sounds nice," you said.

"I didn't know you could get tired Sota, you have the hardest time keeping up and it looks like you're in the best shape of us," Kabuto said.

"You make me feel a bit uncomfortable," you replied.

You didn't know why just compliments like that felt a bit weird sometimes. With too high expectations, all you can do is to fail.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it that way. We should hurry to the inn before it gets too hot outside."

-x-

Getting some proper food was nice. A local dish you didn't catch the name of, but it both smelled and tasted nice. None of you said much during the meal and when the last piece of food had gone down, you could finally go to bed.

You all had to share a room, but it was at least nice and chill as the sun had yet to warm up the room.

"I'll go and deliver the documents, just go to bed, no need to wait for me," Raidou said and left.

Hours and hours of running in the last days did make sleep easy today, so you didn't need any help from Kabuto. It probably didn't hurt that you'd no worries on your mind for the moment.

-x-

"Wake up everyone," Raidou called out to wake you from your sleep.

"I don't want to stay here more than I need to, but there is something I need to do before leaving and it would be beneficial if you could help take a bit of attention away from me in case they've someone watching us. I shouldn't have too much of a problem without it, but it never hurts stacking the odds a bit in our favour."

"What do you want us to do sensei?" Kabuto asked.

"Get dressed and wander around the village for a bit. Come back within an hour and go separate ways. And Sota, you don't need to go further away from the inn than what you feel comfortable with. It's not like they're going to pay too much attention to you anyway."

By the looks of it, Torune didn't look too happy with it, but he raised no objections.

You put on your clothes, got your bag and fastened your weapons. Kabuto was already out the door. It looked like Torune was deliberately taking it slow.

"It will be fine Torune, you're not doing anything bad so there is nothing to fear."

It didn't look like it helped him any, his head seemed to have fallen lower. The fact that he was older and more experienced than you may have made him think he should have managed this task better.

"This is not the place for me. Dry and dead, my bugs hate this place. I don't like being alone with strangers. I'm not feeling well right now. Being around you the last days made me..." he didn't finish that sentence, but it was clear that he was talking about his cousin.

"Stay here, I don't think sensei would mind. See you later, " you said and left him for himself.

-x-

You had one person in mind right now, one other redhead. Were you going to do something incredibly stupid? Yes. But there was no one reading your mind right now, so there was no one to stop you or yell at you to not do it.

You'd made a decision. To see if you could become an early friend of Gaara before things got too bad and before the raccoon could poison his mind too much. But you were no Naruto, so a friendship might be a bit too much to ask for, but maybe you could be a friendly face. That when he revisited the village in about five years he'll recognize you, perhaps second-guessing the orders he'd be given. Maybe you could use this to reason with him later on?

But where could you find him? You walked down a road to look for someone you could ask for help. Your target was a middle-aged man, maybe if he'd children of his own, he'd be friendly enough to help.

You walked up to him. "Excuse me, this is my first time in Suna and I'm not very familiar with this place and I kind of lost my team, is there somewhere I shouldn't go?"

"Where did you find that headband?" The man asked looking at your forehead.

"It's mine, I earned it by graduating in Konoha."

"You know it's a serious offence to impersonate ninja, be it foreign or Suna ninja?"

"I'm a ninja," you tried not to get too worked up. You turned around to show him your weapons, as you wouldn't have those kinds of weapons if you were just a kid playing ninja. "Why do you doubt me." He had a bit of a concern on your face. It was clear that he was just worried about you getting in trouble, so better not get too annoyed at him.

"You're tiny, I've seen no ninja that small, though I guess size could deceive, you're the same size," the man stopped himself.

"I'm sorry, you see that tall building over there," he said and pointed to a round tower in the distance," don't go near it, especially now at night and you should be safe.

"Thanks, sir," you replied.

"Do you want me to help you find your team?" He asked.

"That won't be necessary," you said and walked away.

You needed some kind nickname or reputation so people would start to respect and not think of you as a little kid who was playing ninja with a stolen headband.

What options were there? Sota of the Sharingan? Itachi wouldn't end up in a situation where he'd give up any of this eyes to anyone but Sasuke. And Shisui would never give up his to you, you were too close to Danzo for the moment for that to be a thinkable option and Danzo would definitely take them from you.

Sota of the Red Sand, that was not one for you. There was not much sand near Konoha and you weren't going to spill a lot of blood.

Sota of the Body Flicker. Sorry Shisui, but that name is just underwhelming.

Demon of the Hidden Leaf. It would definitely ensure that people didn't mess with you, but you had already graduated so you weren't likely to kill your entire class at age nine. And you didn't want to be associated with that kind of things.

No, you'd probably be "Wonderkid Sota who ended up being quite average in the end."

After a short detour, so the man didn't notice that you were heading towards the place he just told you to avoid, you turned towards the tower, you wanted to see Gaara. Though you weren't sure if you could do anything for him at the moment

People didn't pay you much attention as you walked through the streets, just as Raidou had predicted. You hoped no Suna ANBU would pick up your plan and why would they?

For every step you took towards the tower, your body got tenser and tenser. No one had stopped you yet and you were finally at the foot of the tower.

This really was a stupid idea and you were going to regret it. The sensible voice in you would yell at you to run back to the inn and check on Torune. The stupid part of you who had guided you so far in the world told you to hurry up and climb the tower.

Every step you took up the steep walls you wondered what was wrong with you. As you climbed over the ledge, you were meet with an empty roof. Of course there was no one up here.

This was the right place right, it wasn't bait to see if you were going where you weren't supposed to go? But even then, why would Gaara be out here right at this moment? No, people weren't going to be somewhere just because you wanted to meet them.

It was time to turn back for real now, you turned around and moved towards the ledge when you could hear footsteps behind you.

"Are you here to kill me?" A soft chilling voice asked you.

"You smell like Yashamaru, before he," Gaara was shaking a bit before looking straight at you. "Die!" He yelled and launched his sand at you.

You threw yourself over the ledge before the sand could grab you, dealing with the fall damage was better than being crushed.

But you didn't fall far before your right leg was being yanked back up again.

"Fuck," you grunted as Gaara was slowly lifting you several meters above the roof.

The match was on and there were two seconds left on your clock, running out of time here didn't mean the loss of a game, but death, so you had to find the right move.

Alright, Kabuto, your advice better help me now or I'm going to take revenge the day you decide to resurrect me with your Edo Tensei.

You quickly formed a couple of hand seals. Tiger, Snake and then pointing towards him with four fingers as you yelled out. "Forbidden Curse, Life Drain."

Tiger to charge at him, a snake to bite and four for death. It made sense in your head and it made you feel it was more convincing, but you kind of needed Gaara to see the symbolism too for it to work.

"What did you do?" He asked as the sand was constricting harder around your leg. It started to get painful, but you had to push through it.

"Do you feel your heart? It is beating faster right?" You asked planting the suggestion in his head. "Is it getting harder to breathe?"

Gaara eyes widened and he clutched his heart. "Stop it!" He screamed.

"If you kill me, it will continue until you die," you threatened. "If you become my friend, I'll stop it so none of us has to die." You tried your best smiling at him while resisting the pain.

The sand started to crawl further up your body.

"We're both the same Gaara." Redheads, green eyes, and Jinchuuriki. "Let us be friends so…" The sudden pain stopped you from continuing.

Gaara's sand started to constrict around your chest, making it hard to breathe properly and thus hard to speak. But the sand had stopped trying to engulf your body and was now at a standstill.

Wasn't this the time for you to wake up with Matabi demanding her power? It was too late for you to grab any explosive kunai, your arms caught up by his sand, and your bag had fallen to the ground. There was nothing you could do.

Why did you have to be so incredibly stupid? Dead after less than a year in this world. You had accomplished nothing. What was the point of being so paranoid? Surely there shouldn't be so hard to find a place in Konoha to figure out a plan to deal with the massacre together with Itachi and Shisui. But paranoia was a hard nut to crack. Discussing a conspiracy like that could easily cause you to disappear, or if the Uchiha figured out what Danzo was up to, you'd spark a civil war.

The pressure on your chest suddenly disappeared and you gasped for air. You started falling as the sand loosened its grip on you, but you were lucky to land in Gaara's soft sand.

You turned towards him and saw him smiling with a ball of sand in his hands. You got up, it was time to remove the pretend curse you put on him. He seemed calm and peaceful, not trying to kill you and not begging you to not kill him.

Did he finally trust you? Why delay this long?

What had gone on in his head at this moment? Was the death of his uncle less impactful than you had thought? Surely you couldn't have this much of an effect on him. You were not Naruto and had not punched him yet. Or was the real effect not the death of his uncle, but the continual loneliness after that?

"Curse removal, life drain," you said forming a bird seal, before lifting your hands up in the air, to tell the curse to fly away and leave Gaara alone.

As your hands feel down to your side again, kunai was flying at you, Gaara's sand swiftly blocked it to protect you. You really had unlocked the secret Uzumaki bloodline of quickly making friends with new people. And that without even punching Gaara.

You saw several Suna ANBU around you with their weapons drawn, approaching you with clear hostile intent as more and more kunai was headed towards you. Without Gaara dutifully blocking all of them, you'd be a pincushion now. There was nothing you could do other than to grab your bag and flee, hoping they wouldn't pursue you further. Fighting them was out of the question for several reasons. A stray kunai graced your right leg as you were jumping off the ledge. It stung a bit but nothing to worry about, it would heal up pretty quickly and if you just changed your pants, no one would be any wiser.

Your brain went on auto-pilot through the streets. You had no idea where you were going as you had paid no attention to where you were going previously. But somehow you arrived at the inn in your panicked state.

You couldn't sense anyone chasing you. It was time to relax and slow down your breathing to prevent your team from becoming suspicious of you.

Torune paid you no attention as you walked into the room and neither Kabuto nor Raidou had arrived back yet, so this was your chance to sneak into the bedroom and switch clothes to hide your encounter with the ANBU.

As you pulled off your pants you noticed that the cut had already stopped bleeding, so there was no reason to fetch the bandage. But it was a bit red around the cut and touching it caused it to burn a bit. Was that a normal consequence of your healing ability?

Better to not worry about it. You managed to survive the explosive tag thrown by Naruto and Sasuke, so this was nothing and you didn't want to explain to Raidou how you had been cut unless you really had to. You sealed away the offending clothing and headed back out to Torune.

"Are you okay?" You asked him.

Torune simply shook his head in response.

What to do? Giving him a bit of a distance seemed to be the easy way out of this, but also the cowards way out of it.

Kabuto and Raidou would be back soon and you would be on the way back home. The green grass, wildflowers and the forest on the other side of the desert would probably cheer him up again, he just needed to push through this slump and everything would be fine.

You sat down opposite of him, but you didn't have to wait long before both Kabato and Raidou was back.

"It was a close call, I was almost caught, but some ruckus somewhere else pulled them away from me. Did any of you see anything while you were out?" Sensei asked.

"I heard something, but I didn't see anything," you lied.

"And you Torune, didn't you see anything?" Raidou asked him.

"I…" Torune didn't have an answer.

"Sensei, he didn't feel well, so I told him to stay here," you said.

"Sota, it is good that you care about your teammates, but you're not doing him any favours by letting him wiggle himself out of things he doesn't like."

Was it worth arguing with him or not?

"He's not doing well on these kinds of missions," you explained trying not to get too angry. "Why are you pushing him to this, aren't the plenty of other missions we can take?"

"Sota, I'm the boss here. If I tell any of you to do something, you obey, is that clear?" Raidou asked.

"Yes Sensei," you replied softly.

"Now go and pack your stuff as fast as you can, we need to leave this place."

You nodded and went to pack your bag.

A few minutes later the four of you were heading towards the gate.

"Hold it," one of the guards yelled as you approached the guard booth.

"Is something wrong?" Raidou-sensei asked.

"Your mission here was to deliver some documents right? Let me see confirmation from the recipient?" The guard requested.

"Here," Raidou handed him a slip of paper. He looked composed and didn't seem to worry about this at all, despite it being an irregular occurrence. "You usually don't care about these kinds of things, is there a problem?"

"You've been acting suspiciously and there was an incident here not long ago. I need to check his bag," the guard said and pointed to you.

"Hand it over," Raidou told you.

The guard grabbed it from your shoulder and sat it down on the counter, and began looking through all your paper tags.

"What is he doing with that many explosive tags on a delivery mission?" The guard asked.

"It never hurts to be prepared, you never know what dangers you'll face," Raidou explained for you.

"Stop with your lies Konoha-nin. You know perfectly well that this isn't a normal amount for a genin to carry around."

"He's making them himself, he is quite a prodigy, but I've neglected to tell him that it might send the wrong signal," Raidou explained.

"Likely. Let me take a look at that sword," he said and pulled it from your back.

"Listen here, we need to get going, Torune here is not feeling well. You're wasting your time here. Let's say Sota here was trying to blow something up, why hasn't anyone heard any explosions?" Sensei argued. But the guard's face didn't change. "Please, let us be reasonable here, it is Sota's first mission, he's bound to make some mistakes."

"Don't tell me how to do my job!" the guard shouted, "I recognize this kind of sword, you can leave the village if you want, but we'll take the boy into questioning."

"Very well, I guess we don't have any choice," Raidou replied and signalled something to Kabuto with his right hand.

Before Kabuto could follow through with the order, you heard a new voice arriving the scene. "What is going on here?" You turned around and saw an ANBU agent approaching you, quite similar looking to one of your attackers.

Was he one of them? Was he going to expose you? And why did your leg start to itch so much, was this nervousness or something else? With a few subtle movements, you hopefully managed to scratch the itch without drawing too much attention to yourself.

"We were just about to bring this kid in for some friendly interrogation," the guard explained.

"Let them go," the ANBU agent ordered.

"We have evidence that he was trying to blow up something here in the village." the guard said and pointed to your bag. "It is full of explosives."

The ANBU took a quick look at your tags before putting them back in the bag and threw it to you.

"I've kept an eye on the boy while he was here and he hasn't tried anything."

"But…" the guard tried to protest.

"If you've any problem with this, you're welcome to talk to the Kazekage," the agent explained. You could see nervous sweat appearing on the guard's face.

"Thanks for clearing up, we'll get going now," Raidou said.

You turned around to leave when the ANBU stopped you. "Aren't you forgetting something Sota?"

"What…?" you stuttered.

"Your sword," he said hand and handed it back to you. "Why are you so tense, I helped you out of this situation? Or do you have something to hide?"

You were getting used to people playing mind games with you now, but that didn't mean you were good at deciphering them. He either lied about watching you, which would make no sense, or he knew and he was letting you go for no good reason.

"Nothing, thanks," you mumbled and put the sword back in its sheath.

-x-

Raidou seemed to be taking a slight turn as you left the village and lead your team to a hill of sand.

"This is why we really are here and the reason I needed a distraction," he said.

"We're bringing back sand?" You asked and you really hoped that you hadn't risked your life for this.

"Come out Hayakawa," Raidou prompted.

Out from the sand came a moustached man dragging on a bag full of scrolls and other components sticking out. Was that an antenna? And when would you learn to detect genjutsu?

"This is my team, there is no time for chitchat." Raidou paused to think. "Kabuto, carry his bag and you Hayakawa, get on my back, we need to get back over the border before they notice that you're gone. It might be a bumpy ride, so if you get sick try not to throw up on me. Torune and Sota you're in the front, Kabuto you'll be in the back," he ordered.

Torune took the lead and you followed up on his side. Your leg was starting to itch more and more but you just had to keep going. If your team got caught now, it was a round of friendly interrogation for all of you.

But slowly as the hours passed, the itching started to disappear, and you could finally relax a bit more. Sure you were running your fastest, but your stamina was never-ending and plenty of water on you to drink, so it did nothing to tax your body. Being a Jinchuuriki was something you could recommend to everyone as long as you could keep it secret.

You gasped in pain as your leg began to act up again.

"Are you okay Sota," Raidou called out from the back.

"Yeah I'm fine, but I think I need to slow down a bit," you said.

"Alright, we should be far enough from Suna now. But if you cannot keep going, tell us and we'll handle it."

"Thanks, sensei," you replied.

The slower tempo helped a bit, it put less pressure on your leg, thus dampening the pain. And over the next hour, it slowly got better till you could no longer feel any pain.

But that was a false sense of security as your foot dug itself into the ground, causing you to fall face down into the sand.

You heard them halting to a stop.

"Sota, what's going on?" Raidou asked. You could hear the worry in his voice.

"I don't know sensei," you said. "I feel fine."

"Try standing up please," he suggested.

That was no problem at all. You could get going again, but another problem arose.

"Sensei, I... I… cannot form chakra in my leg. I… I… I..." words started to get harder and your team started to get blurry.

"Alright, Kabuto, give the bag to Torune and carry him," Raidou told the others.

"Sensei, I think it's best if you take him, he's more comfortable with you. I can manage Hayakawa," Kabuto said. "I don't want him to freak out in case he gets worse."

"Alright," Raidou replied and picked you upon his back.

Things got even more blurry from thereon. All you noticed was someone filling your mouth with water at random intervals. Till you dozed completely off.

-x-

When you woke up again you were no longer in a sandy environment and you were laying on something, not too hard, not too soft. It looked like you were somewhere inside and you could make out some mushy grey walls, but nothing more.

"Sota stay with us now."

You couldn't make out who said what anymore or even who was around you, all you could see was shadowy figures around you.

Someone ripped off your pants and you could see that your right leg had turned mostly black with some purple mixed into it. And it looked like small black tendrils were growing up from it. Everything was a blurry mess so you couldn't tell was what real and what your brain filled in.

"Poison."

"Kabuto I need you to cut it off to stop it from spreading."

"No, I cannot do it. Without his leg he cannot be a ninja, he'll struggle for the rest of life."

"It will grow out again. If you don't do it he will die."

"Legs don't grow out sensei, I cannot do it. I cannot ruin his life. Let me try curing the poison first. Maybe I can save his leg."

"There is no time, the longer you're delaying this the worse it will get. If it spreads too far, it's over for him. This is an order Kabuto, if you don't do it there will be severe consequences for you when we get home."

"I'll do it, I just wish there was another way. A better way."

You started to feel soft pricking on your leg before it stopped again.

"Higher up."

"The more he has left the easier it will be for him."

"If you cut too little, you risk keeping too much poison his system. Cut it here."

"Alright sensei."

Someone grabbed your hand and then you felt something in your leg again and this time it was more than just pricking. You squeezed your eyes together.

You started to breathe faster and faster.

"Calm down Sota, breathe in and out. In… and out…" Someone started stroking hair.

You followed his voice and things started to get better.

And soon after, the ordeal was over and pricking started to take over.

"Now seal away his leg and get out of here."

"But I need to deal with the rest of the poison in his system."

"No buts, out!"

The lock at the door clicked and ninja wire coiled around you. Your forehead protector uncoiled around your head and something else hit it instead.

Your body started to burn, as you slowly opened your eyes you could see that you were engulfed in blue fire.

You couldn't breathe properly. He was burning you alive! A loud scream left your mouth and you began to wiggle around, but the ninja wire prevented you from escaping.

Rapid slamming could be heard from the door.

"STOP IT" you screamed out in pain. "DON'T KILL ME!"

"It's okay, Sota, it's okay."

"MA… TA… HELP ME!" you tried. But there was no one there.

"Please, please," your voice started to get weaker, but the fires just continued to burn and it felt like you were laying inside a furnace.

"please save…"

As you were about to take your last breath of air, the fire stopped with a touch to your head. Your body was still burning, but it was at least calming down now.

"It's okay Sota, I needed to cleanse your body from poison and this was the best way I could think of doing it. By the time Kabuto would have found a less painful cure, you'd be dead," you heard Raidou saying. Your mind was still fuzzy, but you could finally recognize people's voices again.

The moment he unlocked the door, it shot open and Kabuto and Torune stepped in with each their kunai aimed at him.

"What did you do to him!?" Kabuto yelled. "Is he dead?"

"He's fine, put down the kunai. I did what I needed to do to save him. Sometimes you just need to do the right thing without hesitation."

Both of them lowered their arms and looked towards you as you were moving your eyes around.

"This is no time to relax, I want him checked out at the hospital as soon as possible, so if you're not ready to push through it, you'll stay here till someone can escort you home. Someone else will deal with Hayakawa and the equipment we brought, so don't worry about that."

"I'll come with you, if he gets worse again, you'd need a medic," Kabuto answered.

"And you Torune, do you want to stay here or do you think you can continue the last part?" Raidou asked.

"I… I want to go home now," Torune replied.

"Alr…" Raidou tried to say but was interrupted.

"But I need some rest, I don't think I can continue right now."

"Alright Torune, we'll see you again in a few days then."

He untied you and you grabbed onto his back.

"You should try sleeping a bit, I'll make sure you don't fall off me."

"I cannot sleep, everything hurts," you mumbled.

"It's okay, let me help you," he said and put his hand on your head.

-x-

You slowly opened your eyes and you could see white walls around you. Looking around it was clear you were in a hospital, or the medical equipment would make no sense. But there were no windows, something wasn't right here. You were pretty sure you had a window last time you were here, as you could remember Itachi climbing through your window with his Sharingan glowing. Your mouth was dry and your stomach was rumbling. Had you eaten any since you left Suna?

As you turned around you noticed an ANBU agent leaving the room, had he been observing you, for what reason?

Not too long after a nurse entered the room. "How are you feeling, are you still in pain?"

"I'm thirsty," you replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll get to it," she said.

Soon after the nurse was back with a glass of water which you happily chugged down.

"There is someone who wants to see you, I'll go get them," she said and left the room.

You were happy to hear that your friends decided to visit you. The door soon opened, but it wasn't Itachi, Shisui or Naruto, but rather your least favourite cyclops. You didn't need to read his non-existing facial clues to know that he was up to no good right now.

Before approaching you he turned around and put a seal on the door, probably to ensure no one else could enter.

"Sarutobi just accused me of attempting to assassinate the Kazekage's son," he stated.

"I didn't do anything," you responded. "I just thought he needed a friend."

"Friends make you weak, and he's our enemy," he sneered.

"Aren't Suna and Konoha allies?"

"They'll stab us in the back at the first opportunity, and so will we. As a Jinchuuriki your loyalty lies in the village, nowhere else."

You didn't reply to that.

"You're not telling me the truth," Danzo said.

"About what?" You wondered.

"Why did you seek him out?"

"I just told you, I thought.." you didn't get to complete your sentence before Danzo's cane hit your stomach.

"Answer properly."

You clutched your stomach. "He's a Jinchuuriki like me."

"How did you find him?"

"I asked about where I shouldn't go, so I assumed I'd find him in that direction," you said.

"So you assumed he was dangerous, why?"

"I…" that was true, how were you supposed to know Gaara was dangerous. All your experience with other Jinchuuriki didn't point in that direction. You were pretty harmless and while Naruto had successfully injured you, it was an accident and he wasn't really a big danger. If asked, would anyone here warn you about Naruto's location? No, they might dislike his pranks, but it wasn't enough to make people avoid an area, not like with Gaara.

"The only other Jinchuuriki you know is Naruto, so why think he was dangerous unless you know something more?" Danzo asked.

"I was looking for trouble as Raidou-sensei was asking for a distraction and it worked. That's why I asked for somewhere dangerous," you said. It was at least somewhat true.

"If you weren't seeking out him because he was a Jinchuuriki, how did you know he was one?" He asked.

"I lied about that, I've no idea if Gaara is a Jinchuuriki or not, I made it up. As I said, sensei needed a distraction and it worked according to him."

The cane hit you in the head this time.

"Don't pretend to be a stupid child, you are smart enough to see the fault in your logic."

"What?"

"If Raidou wanted a real diversion, he would have ordered Kabuto to do it and he would have a plan for it. There is no reason you'd think you'd need to stir up trouble. He wrote in his mission report that he just wanted fewer eyes on him, so he ordered you to walk around in the village, nothing more," Danzo explained.

How could you explain your way out of this with Danzo playing Ace Attorney, pointing out every contradiction in your testimony? What lie could you make up?

"I can sense the other Jinchuuriki. I knew who Gaara was before I meet up with him, I just needed to find him as he needed a friend. I didn't think you'd believe that I had Jinchuuriki senses, so I tried coming up with something more believable."

"So you can identify the rest of them?" Danzo asked.

"I…," you hesitated, did you want to out all of them to Danzo?

Again you were hit with the cane.

"Stop it," you yelled out.

"Let us start easy, how many Jinchuuriki do Konoha have?" Danzo asked.

"Two, me and Naruto," you said.

"How many do the other villages have?"

"Suna has one, Iwa has two, Kiri has two, Kumo has two, I mean one and Taki has one," you said.

There could be other mistakes, the Matatabi was not supposed to be in Konoha. So who knows what other switches there were.

But if you were wrong, there were no other lies to tell Danzo. He would know the true numbers, right? There hadn't been that many Tailed-Beast transactions since then. Rin had the Three-tailed beast for a while before it was sealed inside Yagura. And you couldn't know for sure if Konoha gained Matatabi in a war or if Hashirama never gave her to Kumo in this reality.

"Did Gaara tell you his name?" Danzo asked.

"No."

"So your senses told you that too?" He asked.

Why can't you think before you speak Sota?

"Yes," you said.

"Then can you tell me the host of the Eight-tailed beast?"

"Killer B, the Raikage's adopted brother."

You had to lend some credibility to your new lie and Killer B should be pretty well known, so you wouldn't tell him something he didn't know.

"What more can you tell me about him?" He asked.

"He is always rapping, but is quite bad at it," you said.

"And what form is the eight-tails?"

"Half-ox, half-octopus."

"What about the Three-tailed beast?" Danzo asked.

"Yagura, the 4th Mizukage," you said.

You felt bad for him, but there was nothing you could do right now to help him. You couldn't save everyone. And what kind of person would he be without the mind-control? Being short and cute didn't make you into a good person.

"What more can you tell me about him?" Danzo asked.

"I don't know," you said. You'd a feeling that he wouldn't let you get away with it. "Please don't hit me."

It was clear that Danzo struggled with the Japanese language as he was quick with his cane.

"What do you know?" Danzo stressed each word.

"I…" that was not the right answer as the stinging sensation in your face could testify to.

"He is controlled by Uchiha Madara," you called out in a panic.

"Uchiha Madara is dead," Danzo said, but he didn't say you were lying, which meant he was contemplating the consequences of what you were saying. Or did he already know and was testing you. If only he could say something so you could understand his thinking.

"Someone is posing as him," you said. Why did you say that? He was happy with your answer but he put you more and more on the edge.

"You know what Hiruzen will think if he hears all this?" He asked.

You shook your head.

"That you're a spy," Danzo said.

"I'm not a spy," you countered.

"I believe you, but I'm not sure if Hiruzen believes you."

"Then explain to him that I'm not a spy," you said. There was no reason he shouldn't trust you, he was much less of a paranoid bastard than Danzo.

"He doesn't trust me, and he doesn't trust you. He put that seal on your tongue for a reason."

"He doesn't need to trust you, he just has to hear your reasoning, it that is sound he should believe me," you argued,

"I've interacted with you a lot more than Hiruzen, not to mention that Root is acting in the dark, so I can see that you'd be a terrible spy. How did the last visits to Hiruzen go?" He taunted. "Last time he put that seal on you because he didn't trust you, and before that, you were dragged into the office by Kakashi for stealing his mask. If I were in his shoes, I too would have concluded that you were a spy."

"Who would I even be spying for?" You asked.

"That would be up to the Torture and Interrogation department to figure out and they won't give up before you confess," Danzo threatened.

"But there is nothing to confess to!" You called out.

"Then they won't stop."

"Please help me," you begged.

"I will, I've finally figured out how to remove that seal on your tongue and I can put my own on it," he explained.

"How does that help me?"

"I can prevent you from talking about any of this, if he sees that you're unable to talk about this, there is no point trying to extract information from you."

"I'm not sure if I like this," you said.

"It is your choice, either my seal or being stuck in T&I."

"Do I have to decide now?" You asked.

"Yes, he will ask you what happened in Suna the moment I leave. And even if you somehow make Hiruzen believe you, I won't let you back down in your room if you decline this. I need to be able to trust that you won't spill any secrets."

Danzo was right, regrettably so. You needed the protection from Hiruzen, you wanted the seal off, and if you were to protect yourself against future threats, you had to improve your seals. You just had to hope that your leg would heal, or else improving would be pointless.

You opened your mouth and stuck out your tongue to signal to him that you were ready.

The smile he gave you when picked up his tools was unnerving. But there was no pulling back now. The alternative was worse.

-x-

Hours later, after a ton of pricking and a quite sore tongue, Danzo was finally finished. And not a minute too early as the door crashed open with two ANBU agents entering the room alongside the Hokage.

"What is the meaning of this Danzo?" Hiruzen raised his voice.

Danzo seemed unfazed by the question and answered calmly, "I was taking his mission report."

"And that took several hours?" Hiruzen didn't look convinced. "Come with me to the office, I want to talk to you in private."

"I don't see why we can't talk about it here in front of the boy," Danzo said.

Hiruzen glared at him. "He doesn't need to hear everything that people say about him."

"He already knows you're keeping secrets from him," Danzo scoffed. "There is no need to confirm it and the way you're acting isn't making it any better."

Sarutobi stared at Danzo with a frown "What are you trying to do here?"

"I'm just giving him a chance to see if he can trust you or not. So what was it that you wanted to say?" Danzo asked

"You've been here for hours, and you're overstepping your boundaries. We agreed that you should teach him fuuinjutsu, not send him out on missions." The tension between them was started to get really uncomfortable.

"He was going to Suna anyway, so I decided to take advantage of the situation. He did not undermine his actual mission and from what Raidou wrote in his report, he saved the mission."

"It cost him his leg!" Hiruzen yelled out.

"If Raidou had been caught smuggling the engineer out of Suna, the consequences could have been worse. It is almost as if you're trying to find faults with me."

"Getting lucky won't last you forever," Hiruzen said.

"You're underestimating me Hiruzen, I don't do luck. Since this was Sota's first mission, I decided to check up on the mission he was assigned and it became clear that the plan was flawed. Any idiot could see that Raidou was going to get caught. So I made sure that wouldn't happen. Having him make contact with Suna's Jinchuuriki would draw attention away from whatever Raidou was doing. The only thing I didn't expect was that Suna would try to kill him for it. But I cannot take the blame for his sensei not being able to read his body language correctly. The report says that Sota was acting strangely after he came back to the inn, any competent ninja should have investigated the matter. I can hardly be held accountable for someone's else's shortcomings can I?"

"I find this hard to believe. You know very well that we've yet to gather intelligence on the current vessel for the One-tailed beast."

"What alternative explanation would you propose? I knew he was able to detect the Nine-tails within Naruto, so I wanted to see if he could sniff out someone else. We wouldn't want Suna to sneak their Jinchuuriki past us without knowing."

That was a much better lie, if only you had thought of it before him.

Hiruzen looked at Danzo, prompting him to continue.

"The mission was successful. The Kazekage's youngest son Gaara is the current host. I'll hand you a drawing of him later."

"I'm suspending your permission to teach Sota," Hiruzen said.

"You want him to go back to experimenting at home? We agreed to this arrangement for a reason."

"Without his supplies, he cannot do anything dangerous," Sarutobi said.

"You're a father and a grandfather, and yet you understand less about children than I. No wonder why all your children left you," Danzo taunted.

"Don't bring them into this."

"The boy will find a way no matter what we'll do. You're only risking more by saying no. What about we make a deal here, I will stay out of his missions and we'll keep the arrangement as before? Or will you cast him away as if he was your son?"

"Continue to teach him so this won't happen again," Sarutobi conceded. "But I'm warning you. If he gets injured because of your actions, I will inflict the same injuries on you. So make sure he doesn't lose any more limbs."

"If there is nothing more, I have more important matters to take care of," Danzo said and moved towards the door.

"One last thing while you are here," Sarutobi said and looked at you. "Sota, did you try to kill Gaara?"

" ", you tried saying no, but nothing came out. You tried again but your tongue started to burn.

"You won't get anything out of him," Danzo said and left the room.

"Open your mouth," Hiruzen ordered.

The moment he saw the seal on your tongue, his face was filled with anger. "You made a mistake allowing Danzo to put his seal on you."

You couldn't tell if his tone were threatening or meant as a warning. It felt like the former, he had lost the battle against Danzo and was taking it out on you. That was the last thing he said before he left with his ANBU, without even giving you a get well soon greeting.

But you weren't left alone for long as in came a grinning Naruto with Shisui right behind him carrying a gift basket of some sort.

"We brought dango, ramen and lots of other good stuff for you. I wish Jiji would visit me when I was sick too," Naruto said.

"Thanks, you two. I'm sorry that I broke my promise, I lost a bit," you said and showed them what little you had left of your leg."

"Don't worry Sota," Naruto said and hugged you. "I'll carry you around if you need to. You can throw kunai at the bad guys and I can run around and make sure we don't get hit."

Looking at Naruto made you think about how you didn't deserve good friends like this.

You heard knocking on the door. "Go away," you mumbled from underneath your blanket. But the knocking just continued.

"I'm not here," you raised your voice this time.

It was of no use as the lock turned and in the door came Hyuuga Hizashi.

"Good morning Sota. I was asked to check up on you." Lies! "The sun has been up for several hours now, shouldn't you be up already?" He asked and opened the curtains, letting the bright sun enter your room.

"There is no point anymore, without my leg I can't do much. They won't even give me a wheelchair, the nurse said she was ordered not to give me one," you said.

"I could talk to them if you want?" Hizashi offered.

"The Hokage is mad at me, so it is pointless."

"I guess you'll just need something else to occupy your time with. Have you thought more about what we talked about the last time? Will you help Neji?"

"The seal? I've no idea at all, I don't even know where to start."

"How about learning to make your own cursed seals, they don't need to do anything, just something easy that you know how to apply and remove from people," he suggested.

"Who would I ever test it on, I'm not stupid enough to test something like this on my friends."

"Test it on animals or fish if you so prefer," he suggested.

"I… no… this is all a dumb idea. I'll get in trouble with your clan. I don't even understand why you'd take this risk. If they figure out that you're trying to betray the clan, they'll punish you. They'll punish Neji."

"I want to make Neji free no matter the cost and you've nothing to fear. They won't go against Danzo, as we're already walking on a thin line for not providing Root with any recruits."

"I'm not in Root, I'm not…," what did you want to say there. You didn't think of yourself of working for Danzo. You were nothing like the others in Root.

"My clan sees it differently and that is all that matters. Have him teach you how to apply seals on people. You enjoy learning new things, right? Do it for Neji and help me free my clan."

"I don't want to make any more deals with Danzo, he's just causing me trouble. Go away and let me decide my own fate without interference from you or Danzo."

"I'll take my leave then. If you want to talk to me again, just talk to Neji and I'll work something out."

Now that he was gone you could continue hiding under your blanket away from the world and maybe take another nap.

-x-

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

*KNOCK KNOCK…. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Not exactly the sounds you'd want to wake up to.

"Sota, are you in there?" Naruto asked from outside.

"No," you yelled back."

"Oh, I guess I come back later then," Naruto said and you could get some peace again. "Wait, Sasuke tried to do the same thing on me. I know you're in there."

He sadly caught onto you. How could you make him go away? You had no idea and he had already started to pick your lock and it didn't take long before he got a peek inside your room.

"Are you tired?" He asked you.

"I just don't want to wake up. Without my leg, I can't become a ninja, and I think sensei lied about it growing back again," you said.

"But I'm going to carry you on my back and we can be ninja together," his tone still cheerful, "believe it!"

"Naruto, you'll be a great ninja on your own one day, carrying me around will just hold you back and let the bad guys win," you said. "You'll become better than Sasuke and even Itachi someday."

"Being strong isn't everything Sota. If being strong means you have to leave your friends behind, then I stay weak with my friends."

You really didn't reserve a friend like Naruto.

"Do you want to come and visit Itachi?" he asked.

It felt like weeks since last you'd seen Itachi now. He was a good friend so you should take the offer. You could go back to bed afterwards.

"Yes, I'd like that," you replied.

"Great, hop on my back," he said and moments later you were off. So fast that you didn't realize that you were still in your pyjamas or that you hadn't locked your door. But given the circumstances, an open door might just be a bigger deterrent to anyone breaking in. No one respected your locks, but if the door was still open someone might expect a trap.

But Naruto didn't lead you to the Uchiha compound but rather a nice looking apartment block. He knocked on one of the doors and a moment later your favourite cyclops opened the door. As Kakashi's only competition was Danzo, that wasn't a big accomplishment.

"What do you want?" He asked and looked over you two. His eyes made it clear that he was not happy to see you.

"We want to see how Itachi is doing," *Naruto said.

"He's not doing well and we're about to set out on a mission, so please leave."

"But…" Naruto exclaimed.

"Please let them in senpai," you heard Itachi from inside, his voice was soft and weak.

"Come in for a moment," Kakashi said. "Take off your shoes."

An annoyed noise from Naruto made it clear that he didn't like to be told that, but you were pretty sure he never took off his shoes when entering your apartment, so maybe he needed a reminder.

Itachi was sitting on his bed, eyes red, but not from the Sharingan.

"How did your mission go Sota?" he asked you.

"We accomplished our tasks," it was all you could say before Itachi got a glimpse of your missing limb.

Itachi started to sob. "It's all my fault, I'm a terrible brother and I failed to protect you. I caused this. I helped you graduate and now this happened. I was too busy being worried about Sasuke that I didn't think properly. I guess you hate me now too?"

"I don't hate you Itachi, I did something stupid and that's not on you. You're a good brother, I'm sure Sasuke will see that one day too, that you did that to protect him."

"Hug him", Naruto whispered in your ear.

Slowly and a bit unsure about yourself, you embraced the older boy.

"He doesn't want to be protected, he wants to defend himself," Itachi sighed.

"It's okay Itachi, just give it some time," you said and kept holding around him.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"I know I'm not supposed to ask, but where are you going?" You asked and let go of him.

"Oh, I'm going to Wave, just helping the village with some repairs and maintenance. It's not really worth the money they're paying us as it is basically just D-ranks. I've not done those since I graduated, so I don't mind. Kakashi thinks the change of environment is good for me and its just a vacation with him doing some chores around the village," Itachi explained.

How was Wave now? Wasn't they too poor to afford ninja?

"You're going to help me, doing something constructive with your hands is good for you," Kakashi said.

"None of this will help me with Sasuke, I don't think I can be happy again before I see him smile again," Itachi said.

"Give it time, children that age doesn't keep grudges forever. Soon he'll run back to you. Now I've packed the stuff, so you need to leave kids," Kakashi said.

"Ahh, a bit longer, please? Naruto asked.

"Naruto, you'll see me again in maybe a week, be patient and look after Sasuke will you?" Itachi asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Sota, please keep your hope up. This isn't the end of the world."

"I'll try," you sighed. "Goodbye, I'll hope you come back better," you smiled at him.

-x-

As you walked away from Kakashi's apartment, Naruto asked you something. "You know that fire flute I got from Sasuke?"

"Yes," you replied.

"Sasuke wanted to try it, but it didn't work. Shisui said maybe you'd know why. Can you help me?"

"I can take a look I guess," you answered.

"Thanks," Naruto said and began to speed up.

He brought you to a training ground, nice to see that someone had told him how to safely deal with these kinds of things. Based on what you'd done before, you'd hate to say it, but he was more responsible than you when it came to seals now.

"Can you put me down?" You asked.

Naruto did as you asked him.

"Let me take a look at it," you said and Naruto took it off his neck. He seemed to be wearing it as an amulet or good luck charm.

Taking a lot at the outside it looked unharmed and there was no sign of damage. Same could be said for the inside. You couldn't access the paper seals without damaging this thing, so you weren't sure if those were intact, but you were not sure how they could have become damaged either.

But why would it work for Naruto and not Sasuke? Sasuke's lower chakra reserves might explain some part of it, but the seals shouldn't require too much chakra to activate and Sasuke could probably a decent amount of chakra already, just easily run out. It made no sense.

You wiped off the front of the flute with your shirt and tried it yourself. And it seemed to work quite well. A glowing fireball flew out from it as it should.

What separates you and Naruto from Sasuke. He was not an orphan, Jinchuuriki or an Uzumaki. Being an orphan shouldn't change anything. That left Jinchuuriki and Uzumaki. That it would only work for Jinchuuriki was a bit far fetched, so that left only one option. You had to be an Uzumaki. It made kind of sense as you made it thanks to your Uzumaki powers. You just had to confirm it.

"Can you bring Shisui here?" You asked him.

"Shisui is gone on a mission. Why do you need him?" Naruto asked.

"I think it only works for Uzumaki. It was made for you right, so you wouldn't want an enemy to take it from you and use it against you," you explained.

"Oh, it's even better than I thought then. Too bad it doesn't work for Sasuke. He has been struggling with the fireball Jutsu and has been in a grumpy mood lately. So he wanted to get a feel for it," Naruto explained.

"I'm sure Sasuke will get it soon, he's an Uchiha after all. They go together with fire like you and Ramen."

"I guess you're right."

-x-

Back at your apartment, you noticed that the door was unlocked. Who was it this time? Shin, Danzo, or maybe someone else. You looked up in the ceiling making sure there wasn't anyone hiding there. Then under your bed. It wasn't before you opened your wardrobe you realized you never locked your door when you went out.

You were hungry, but you didn't feel like making anything. So you got some cold leftovers from the fridge. You only managed some bites as food didn't taste any good at the moment. Naruto was like the sun, all bright and warm when it was there, but when gone all you were left with was cold darkness.

The bed looked extra nice right now and you were already in your pyjamas so you drew the curtains and laid down in your bed waiting for the next day to come.

-x-

Next morning you wake up to the smell of tea. Your windows were closed so it made no sense that it would come from any of the neighbours.

"Get out," you mumbled into your pillow.

"I gave you a task remember? It was Danzo sitting at your table sipping tea.

"What task? You asked.

"You were supposed to produce some explosive tasks for me, I hope you've not forgotten."

"I don't care," you mumbled. It was time to break up with Danzo.

"How is Naruto doing lately? I hope he's not as prone to accidents as you?" Danzo asked.

"You wouldn't dare? Sarutobi will stop you!" You yelled. That coward. This had nothing to do with Naruto so why threaten him because of you?

"Dare what? Being worried about the well being of your friends?"

"I'm not stupid," you said.

"No you're not, so you know what to do. I hope to see you again later today," Danzo said and left.

He didn't even clean up his teacup, just left it on your table for you to deal with. Why couldn't this bastard leave you alone?

And then someone knocked on your door again. You grabbed your crutches by your bed and went to open it. If it was someone extra annoying, you could hit them with one of them.

"Good morning Sota," Aburame Shibi greeted you.

"Good morning Aburame-san," you replied. It was nice to see someone not walking in uninvited.

"You're Torune's new teammate right?" He asked.

"Yes, but I doubt it will be for long with my injury," you said.

"I want to invite you to dinner. You're still my son's teammate so I'd like to get to know you better. He's worried about you."

Your stomach was rumbling and it would be nice to not have to make your own food. And it would be nice to see Torune again.

"Thanks, let me just get dressed," you said.

It was the first time you had been outside with your new crutches and it was hard to keep balanced with one side being heavier than the other.

But you got there in the end and it wasn't hard to see who was living there. A botanical garden was a good way to describe the place with lots of insects swarming around the flowers.

And it didn't stop outside. Even inside Shibi's house, there were lots of flowers in pots in the hallway and living room. You just hoped no wasps were flying around inside.

"Hi Sota, I'm glad you came," Torune greeted you with a smile. "I'm glad you're fine. I look forward till you can join the team meetings again."

"Thanks," you replied. There was no question of if with him, just when.

"The food is ready in a moment, so just sit down at the table you two," Shibi said.

Soon after he put down some rice dish on the table, you had no idea what is what, but it smelled good.

"I hear you're proficient at seals, who is teaching you?" Shibi asked.

"Oh," you paused for a moment. "Genma taught me the basics then Kakashi took over, but now I'm experimenting on my own." You were not going to mention anything about Danzo.

"Hmm, you're not putting your team in danger are you? Raidou mentioned how you blew up the road without warning."

"I thought someone was ambushing us. This was my first mission so I guess I panicked," you said.

"Most fresh genin would not notice anything weird or freeze up in situations like that. If I didn't know better, I would think that this wasn't your first mission. I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me about this Torune."

"I didn't want you to get a bad impression of him," Torune explained.

"The food is good," you said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction.

"I'm glad someone likes my cooking," Shibi said.

"You make the same three things all the time," Torune complained.

"Maybe I should learn another dish," Shibi muttered to himself.

"I need to go," Torune said. His father was looking at him prompting him for more information. "Sensei wants…" he paused for a second. "Sensei wants an extra team meeting."

It was a nice gesture of him to try not to remind you of the team meetings you couldn't attend, too bad it failed.

"I want to talk to you a bit after Torune has left, is that okay?" Shibi asked you.

You nodded, as you didn't see the harm. He seems nice enough, despite his weird questioning. He was just being a protective father, though a bit strange.

As soon as the door closed behind Torune, Shibi lifted you up by your shirt collar and pushed you into the wall. What was going on?

"What are you trying to do? Stay away from my son, Root scum!" He snared into your face.

"I'm not.." you tried to explain yourself.

"I saw Danzo leave your apartment. You've got the same sword as them. Open your mouth," he ordered but didn't give you any chance to obey as he forced your mouth open with his hand.

"And the seal," he said and pressed his forehead into yours. "Tell him that if he wants Torune too it will be over my dead body. I will protect him with every man and every insect of this clan. I will stop at nothing, if he wants a war he will get war."

"He doesn't…"

But you got cut off again. "Then why are you on his team?"

You finally got saved from this as Torune was interrupting you. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Shibi dropped you on the floor.

"Weren't you supposed to meet with your team?" Shibi asked.

"I forgot my kunai. Why are you hurting him?" Torune asked.

"He's with Danzo, the man that took your brother so stay away from him. I don't want you to go outside alone anymore. Ask Mikio to follow you to the meeting and ask Raidou to follow you back home. I'll explain the situation to him."

"You are overreacting. He's a good person, " Torune said in your defence.

"He's a good actor," Shibi argued back. No, you were definitely not. "You saw it for yourself on your last mission. Him acting suspicious and coming back poisoned. You never got an explanation did you?"

"Sensei said it was confidential and that he doesn't know himself," Torune said.

"And that doesn't worry you?" Shibi asked.

"Maybe you're right. Shino is also in Root, and he's not a bad person. Sota, have you seen him?" Torune asked you.

"No, I've not," you said. It was hard to deny your affiliation to Root at this point, even if there was no real affiliation. So there was no point at denying it at this moment. You just needed to fulfil your mission and then break off your connection to Danzo. You should also get rid of that cursed sword.

"Dad, two ANBU agents are waiting for you, I think they'll start to get…"

"Impatient," a masked woman said. "The Hokage wants to talk to you. He hopes that you clear up some things before we send your men to Ibiki. Do you ransack the home of all of your son's friends?"

"I've done nothing wrong here, but I will talk to him. I've other business to take up with him anyway," he said and looked at you before turning to Torune. "You should meet up with Raidou before he starts looking for you."

"Let me help you home," the other ANBU agent said and sat down in front of you to prompt you to climb on his back.

-x-

You arrived to a mess. The Aburame had done a real job searching your place. even under floorboards where you didn't even know could hide stuff. But given that it was such an obvious place to look for things, it was probably not a good idea to hide any secrets there yourself.

"I'm sorry about this," let me help you clean this up. He started by fixing your bed so you'd somewhere to sit.

Over the next hour, you sat still watching an ANBU agent put everything back in order. Kind of strange really, it would seem to be a thing you'd send a genin team to do, not your elite ninja.

After sweeping the floor with a mop the agent left.

It was time to go back to Danzo, the sooner you were done with this, the sooner you were free. You just need to grab your… your crutches were gone. The ANBU had forgotten to bring them with you.

You jumped on one foot to the door to see if you could stop the ANBU agent. But by the time you were out the door, he was long gone.

What could you do? What was there to do but just lie on your bed for the rest of the day. The only thing you could think of was to draw Danzo on a piece of paper and throw kunai at it.

Or it would be fun if your aim wasn't so damn good. Maybe you should try with another target? Who else is a bastard? Sarutobi. Were you judging him too harshly? No, you weren't. He was using you as a pawn in his power struggle against Danzo. You felt like they were pushing you around like a piece on a chessboard to further their own interest. Hiruzen wanting to punish you because he was mad at Danzo. And Danzo, you had no idea what Danzo really wanted.

So you hung up another drawing and this time tried to throw two kunai at a time. It was something you hadn't practised so it kept you occupied for a while at least till it was time to go to bed again.

-x-

You slept for a long time the next day too.

Naruto didn't come to visit you and you were pretty sure the academy was over today. If only you could make your own friends.

Wait a minute, you could.

Your hands were still intact so you formed them into a seal. In a puff of smoke, your clone appeared standing there in front of you. Standing there… He still had both of his legs! He could carry you around.

"That took you long," your clone said to you. "And you managed to get yourself hurt." He looked at your missing limb.

"I'm sorry. Do you think you could help me out? I cannot move around like this." You said.

"If you buy me dango," he said. You were hoisted by your own petard. But it was your only way out of here and you kind of wanted dango yourself.

"Sure, I need to get back down to Danzo to complete my mission, so we can buy something on the way there," you said.

You got properly dressed and realized a problem. "Just wait a moment, I need to resummon you so you can get dressed properly."

With a quick unsummon and summon your clone was wearing proper clothes and you got onto his back.

Hopefully, you wouldn't get too many weird stares on the way, you hadn't noticed any so far.

Your clone walked up to the dango stand. "Let us get four sticks of dango," you said and handed the vendor the money.

"Can you put one in your mouth? I don't want to drop you," your clone asked.

You took one off the sticks and popped it into his mouth and bit into another one yourself.

"You know the way right?" you asked your clone.

"Yeah," he answered.

-x-

Back down at the Root base, nothing had changed since last time and your clone set you down on your desk.

"Can you get the stuff I need?" You asked him.

Your clone nodded and you could get back to making more explosives. It was a hundred Danzo needed right? You still had a bit to go.

"I can help you, you know?" You clone prompted.

"Thanks, grab a brush and... where are you going to sit?"

"We can share the chair, you move to the side a bit," he suggested.

The hours went past and you made great progress, but your clone seemed to tire fast. He didn't have a lot of chakra.

"Do you want me to resummon you with more chakra?" You asked him.

"No, just let me rest on the bed for a bit," he said.

"You know that you won't recover any chakra that way?"

"Yes, but it makes me feel a bit more alive you know," he explained.

He was kind of right. People couldn't just refresh themselves by popping out and in of existence, they had to rest, so even if the gesture was functionally useless, it still held an emotional purpose."

And after some more hours, you too got tired. It was a chakra intensive task, even for you.

"Are you fine carrying me back?" You asked your clone.

"Yes, just climb on my back again."

-x-

On the way back you heard Shin call for you. "Hi Sota, why are you piggybacking yourself?"

Your clone stopped and turned towards him. "I got injured and lost my leg, so my shadow clone here is helping me out. Why are you all dirty?"

"Survival exercises all day at the academy," he said. That explained why Naruto didn't show up today. "Do you want to join me, Shikamaru and Choji for some food? Shika asked me to ask you. We're having BBQ."

You had not eaten much today so the answer was obvious. "Sure."

"Hop on my back," Shin said.

"Sorry," you told your clone and got off his back so you could dispel him before climbing on Shin's back.

He was not very fast, but what could you expect after an entire day of training? And the Yamanaka wasn't known for their great stamina.

The smell from the food, as you arrived, was great.

"Hi Sota," both Shikamaru and Choji greeted you.

"Hi," you replied.

"So how does it feel being a ninja," Shin asked.

"Lots and lots of running all day long," you said.

"I heard fresh genin are mostly doing chores around the village," he said.

"Not my team," you said.

"So tell us about your latest mission," Shin prompted.

"You know I cannot tell you much, it's supposed to be a secret," you exclaimed.

"Hmm, help me out here a bit Shika, where do you think he went."

"Suna maybe," Shikamaru guessed.

"How?" You asked.

"Simple, I guessed a place far away and you confirmed it," he explained.

How did you fall for it?

"I didn't tell you anything," you said in your defence in case anyone complained about you sharing secrets. "But being a ninja is much less fun than it sounds like."

"How was the food?" Choji asked.

"It was fine, I don't think the food is better in Suna than here. They're in the middle of a desert so their options are limited. But we weren't starving or anything. Ninjas work better when they're happy and not hungry, so sensei takes our mental wellbeing seriously," you exclaimed.

"I don't see why you rushed graduating, I'm going to wait as long as I can," Shikamaru commented.

"At least I don't have to go to the academy every day. Or at least if my leg grows out again," you said.

"Legs doesn't grow out Sota, if someone told you that, then it was to make you feel better," Shikamaru said.

He didn't know you were a Jinchuuriki, that would change it wouldn't it?

"I'm going back to the hospital in a few days to see if there is any progress. I'll keep my hopes up till then. Uzumaki's are known for healing fast."

"What are you thinking of doing if not?" Shin asked.

"I don't know. I rather not think about that," you said.

"So how did you get injured?" Shin asked.

"You know I cannot tell you that," you replied.

"Come on, you can at least tell us what caused it, you don't need to say how it happened."

"Poison," you said.

Shin started to think for some seconds before replying. "So you got into a fight with someone?"

"Or it could be an animal or an insect, I'm not saying."

"Dad has taught me about poisons. He thought it was a fun way to get me into flowers and there is nothing in the Suna deserts that can cause that. Which means you get attacked. And you must have been alone, or else it would be treated earlier. You didn't do anything shady in Suna did you?"

How?

"I'm a Yamanaka, we learn about how to read people," Shin said.

Are you reading my mind, Shin?

"Yes," he said.

"Stop it, Shin, it's not funny," you said.

"Stop being so predictable then."

After that, the conversation went over to other stuff and you began to focus on your food and rather zoned out a bit.

"I'm sorry I need to go," Shin said and left the table. "I promised to help my father with something."

"Goodbye," you all said.

"Goodbye," he replied.

After he was gone, you turned to Shikamaru. "Thanks for inviting me, it was nice."

"Umm, we didn't invite you, Shin did," Shikamaru explained.

"But he said you had asked him," you said.

"He kind of admires your success and mostly that you beat Sasuke. He doesn't like the Uchiha with their flashy eyes and thinks they're getting too much credit," Shikamaru explained.

"Oh. I hope you didn't mind me here," you said.

"We're kind of not supposed to talk to you. My father said I should stay away from you this morning, but he didn't tell me why. Shin was probably told the same, but he doesn't care about the rules," Shikamaru said.

"Were you told the same Choji?" You asked him.

"Yes," he said. "We talked to the others in our class and they were told the same."

What was going on? Had Shibi gone around telling everyone in your old class that you were dangerous?

"I think I'm going to leave now, it was nice talking to you guys," you said and put some money on the table before you left.

-x-

Over the next days, you and your clone went for dango, before going back down finishing your mission. You reckoned that you'd be done today, but first, it was time for a hospital check-up.

It felt like an eternity as you waiting for your appointment.

"Sota, it's your turn," a nurse told you. "Where are your crutches?"

"I lost them," you said.

"Did someone take them from you?" She asked.

"Kinda," you replied. Neither Shibi nor Torune had given them back to you, and you were for sure not going there yourself. He had probably hidden them so Torune wouldn't notice.

"Do you want me to help you?" She asked.

"I can manage it myself," you said and started jumping after her.

She walked into a room and closed the door behind you.

"Sit down please and we can start taking some measurements," she said.

You did as she said and started to roll up the legs of your pants and began measuring with her measuring band.

"Do you get told stuff. Secrets?" You asked her. Trying to fish out the truth without telling too much if she didn't know.

"Yes I know what's inside you, or else it wouldn't be much point to be doing this would it?"

"I guess."

Her facial expressions stayed mostly the same, focused but not showing any clear emotion. Was that a good or bad sign.

"I need to listen to your heart and then take some blood from you," she said.

"What was the result?" You asked.

"Wait a minute, will you? Can you take off your shirt?"

You nodded and took it off. Soon after the cold metal of her stethoscope touched your chest.

"Seems fine," she said after a few seconds.

"Now, it will just be a little prick with the needle. But I'm sure it will be fine," she said. "Give me your arm please."

You stretched out your arm and she tied a band around your upper arm and wiped clean the area where she was going to stick. "Ready?" Without hesitation, she inserted it into your vein and blood began to collect into the ampule. When it filled up, she removed it again and tied a piece of cotton over it.

"We'll have it checked at our lab. If you don't hear anything it's all fine," she said.

"What about the leg?" You asked. Why was she dodging this, it had to have grown a bit right?

"No change at all I'm sorry. Your sensei was wrong, there is nothing we can do, it won't grow back," she explained.

You did not want to hear that at all. You weren't that optimistic before, but now it was all gone.

"If your blood is fine, you don't need any more check up here. Let me see if I can find something to replace your crutches."

"Why can't I have a wheelchair?"

"I cannot tell and I don't know. We've been ordered by the Hokage, and I know better than to go against his orders," she said.

So it was him and not Danzo.

"Can you get someone to deliver them to me? I just want out now," you asked.

"I think I can fix that. Sure you're okay?" She asked.

"Yes," you said and jumped back out. Outside you summoned your clone and climbed onto his back.

"Do you want to go back down today?" He asked.

"Nothing better to do is there, I need to finish this so I'm done with him. Now go get us some dango."

-x-

You were right, this was the last day of the unofficial seal-making mission. After counting the stack twice, you were sure you had enough.

"Can you get Danzo? You asked one of the root guards.

They said nothing as they left.

Ten minutes later Danzo arrived.

"I've finished my task," you told him.

"Very well. Let me take a look," he said and picked out random tags from both the end, middle and the start of the stack and studied them. "Looks passable." Did he think you were going to cheat him?

"Thanks," you said. "Can I go now?"

"Don't you want your reward?" He asked.

"I don't know," you replied. You never knew with that bastard. His reward could be another round of getting stabbed.

"I heard about the results from the hospital and you give me no choice," he said. That didn't sound good at all. "We're leaving the village tonight, I know someone who can help."

Not snake-face right?

"Stay here till I go and get you again. I'm sure you've something else you want to work on. You better not leave," he said.

Even if it was Orochimaru, you should give it a chance. He sure couldn't make more harm.

While he was gone you could on your kunai defence seal. You had most of the pieces ready. You just needed to have it activate when a kunai hit you. How could you represent this? You wanted it to activate when a kunai hit you or almost hit you. So you could represent this with the symbols for body and kunai. But wouldn't it need to identify you somehow? Blood was a common element in seals, so what if you added a symbol for Soul and smear a bit of blood on it?

Given the inability for clones to take damage, anything involving blood was out. But he seemed to just want to nap on the bed anyway. Catching a glimpse of what you were doing from time to time.

After your first attempt, you could tell that it wasn't going to work, so you didn't even bother testing it. You needed to come up with a better way to connect kunai to the body symbol.

Your Uzumaki senses started to tingle more and more and you got something down on the paper. It took a few tries before it felt right, and as soon as you picked up a kunai, the seal started to glow. That was not supposed to happen. You wanted it to activate when you go hit, not prevent you from using kunai yourself.

But just to be sure, you rigged up the rest of the seal. At least that part you had done plenty of times before.

With the complete seal, you touched the kunai again and it disappeared. Now, how to make it only activate when the sharp end touched? Maybe replace touch with stab? No that wouldn't protect against cuts. But cut would cover getting stabbed right? So you could use that.

After another few reworks, a new seal was ready to test. Carefully you make a small cut in your left arm, and as soon as it drew blood it disappeared, leaving almost no mark. It would not help you against poisoned kunai, but it was a good start.

You made a few more, you had a vague feeling that it would be useful, or you were just a bit paranoid after what happened in Suna. You could just increase the capacity, but after your previous test with explosives, you didn't want to try storing more than one kunai in a seal yet.

You had spent a lot longer than you expected and had only managed to make a handful before Danzo was back with two Root agents. You stuffed them in your pocket before he could see what you were doing.

"Dispel your clone and climb on his back," Danzo said and pointed to one of them.

One thing was sitting on the back of Raidou or your clone, but as you got on top of the Root agent you felt quite uneasy.

"Put this on him," Danzo said and handed the other agent a blindfold.

Great.

When they were sure it was on properly, they walked out of the room before heading off. But not out the entrance you were used to, as the stale air of the tunnels were ever-present. They were even changing direction randomly to try to keep the layout inside secret. After an hour or two, they finally stopped. Your blindfold was taken off and a dark staircase was in front of you.

They walked out the door and on the outside you could see a town you couldn't recognize. It had already gotten quite dark, but still, Danzo wasn't exactly subtle with his masked agents walking around without even trying to be sneaky.

Danzo moved his arm forward motioning the other agent to go ahead of your group, while you kept a walking speed.

A few minutes later you were in front of an inn. Why meet Orochimaru here?

"Welcome, can I help you?" A young woman at the reception welcomed you.

"I'm here to visit someone, I can know my way," Danzo said and walked past her.

As you walked past the doors, Danzo looked at each door before stopping at one which had a kunai stuck to it.

The door was open so you could just walk in. And what meet you wasn't a slimy bastard, but rather a quite angry Tsunade.

"Greeting Tsunade, I'm in the need of your services, it would be the best for all of us if you can cooperate," Danzo said.

"Let her go Danzo!" Tsunade yelled.

At another end of a room, the other agent was holding Shizune still with a kunai at her neck. Why were you surprised that Danzo took the hostage route to get what he wanted?

"I let her go when you help me," Danzo said.

"What do you want?" Tsunade asked.

"I need you to fix the Jinchuuriki. He lost his leg to poison and I want you to make it grow back out again. We had hoped that his Jinchuriki powers would help him, but so far there is no progress so I come to you."

"Let me take a look at him," Tsunade said and you were let down. But as you got closed to Tsunade, she grabbed you and put her own kunai at your neck."

"Let her go or I kill the kid," Tsunade screamed out.

"Kill him," Danzo replied.

You still had your seal on you, but you had not done a proper test yet, so you wouldn't bet your life on it. But Danzo didn't know that, so what was he thinking?

"What?" Tsunade called out.

"He's useless to me without his leg. Kill him, I'll kill Shizune, and we can all go about our business," Danzo said.

"You're a monster!" Tsunade yelled out.

"Don't make a threat you're not willing to go through with Tsunade. Kill him or help me, that's your options."

Maybe it had its purpose. He seemed to have read Tsunade perfectly well.

"I've no interest in helping you and I've no idea why my old sensei handed you a Jinchuuriki," she said.

"He didn't hand me anything. Sota here isn't part of Root. I just want to help him reach his potential, unlike my old friend who seems to just want our Jinchuuriki to rot," Danzo explained.

At least he acknowledged that you weren't part of Root, even if everyone else seemed to insist on it.

"As if you care about anything other than power," she said.

"Can you stop arguing. I'm not Danzo's weapon. I need your help. Does it matter who benefits from it? Isn't this the kind of cynicism that made you leave the village?" You asked her.

"You don't know how much about the world kid. If you don't think he has you under his control yet, it is too late for you. If I save you, how many are you going to kill?" She asked.

"You're wrong. I've friends, I've my values. I need to be strong for my friends. Without my leg I'm useless," and who needs a useless Jinchuuriki? Fuck. "What will happen to me if Tsunade can't help me?" You directed the last question to Danzo.

Danzo started to smile. "The Two-Tails will be extracted from you and put in another host."

He wouldn't want to kill you right? He smiled because she might change her mind if she thought you were going to get killed.

"I want something in return," she said.

"You will get Shizune back alive," Danzo said.

"You don't get to sell me the solution to the problem you caused. I want money. I want 100 million Ryo," she demanded.

"Are you out of your mind?" he asked.

"No, he is a Jinchuuriki, properly trained they can earn back the money easily. A few bounties and you've earned your money back," she argued.

"You heard him yourself, he is not loyal to me. And we still have the tailed-beast even without him. A new host would also solve the problem," Danzo countered.

"I hope you weren't sleeping during the last war. Good Jinchuuriki are hard to come by. I think it was only B from Kumo and one of the ones from Iwa. And Mist decided to use theirs in quite an unconventional way, so not sure if that counts. So that's a third that played a role in the war effort Our own was not even trained in using the powers of her tailed beast. You wouldn't bother with that kid if he didn't show potential, but rather use this opportunity to petition Hiruzen to find a new host. And no matter what, it would set you back many years. I'm worth my money," Tsunade said.

"You do realize if I were to give you 100 million ryo I would hunt you down to retrieve my money? My first and final offer is 5 million ryo, there will be no further negotiations. You've 15 seconds before my agent here will slit her throat," he threatened.

You could feel that Tsunade begin to shake. And each second passing felt like an eternity.

"I'll help him," she gave in. "So let her go."

Danzo motioned with his hand and Shizune was released.

"I hope you realize who you are working with here and how he didn't care at all that your life was in danger," she said to you and took the kunai off your neck.

A kunai flew through the air, aimed at your stomach. She tried to block it but was too late. But your seal worked perfectly. You had not yet to have any real-world tests, so you were kind of surprised that it worked that well. But it did cut through your shirt, so that was another thing you needed to fix if you wanted to go through a fight without ruining your clothes.

"His life was never in any danger, your kunai would have done nothing. Unlike you, I don't gamble. I think it's Shizune that needs to reconsider her relationship with you," Danzo said, taking full responsibility for the kunai.

"Don't test your luck Danzo," she said. "Now Sota let me take a proper look at you, can you lay down on the bed?"

You nodded and jumped towards the bed.

"I hope you've brought his medical reports Danzo, both from the field and when his checkups at the hospital," she asked.

"Here," he handed her a folder.

"Let me see," she started to read. "This is horrible. Raidou had clearly no idea what he was doing."

She started to roll up your pant leg and laid her glowing green hands on it.

"What's wrong?" You asked her.

"Your Sensei was right, you can regrow limbs, the regeneration powers of the Uzumaki is terrifying, even without a tailed beast. It makes you naturally bigger risk-takers as you can just be patched up again. But then he managed to mess it up completely by letting the two-tails chakra run rampant through your system," she explained.

"What damage did this cause?" he asked.

"It stopped the healing process of the leg, but nothing I cannot fix, but not without complications," she explained.

She then wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Danzo, "Get this for me."

He looked through the list and scribbled something more onto it before handing it to one of the agents who swiftly left the room.

"I had hoped you would go yourself," Tsunade said.

"You're not to be alone with the boy," Danzo said.

Silence filled the room after that till the Root agent was back along with some other agents carrying the necessary supplies.

She folded out a portable surgical bed. "Lay down here, I don't want to waste my money on replacing the bed. "

"Are you sure that you're up to this Tsunade? You never got over it you know?" Shizune asked her.

"Danzo is paying good money for this, now hand me the sake so I can focus properly," Tsunade said.

"What are you doing?" Danzo asked.

"If you wanted someone sober, you've come to the wrong place," she replied. "You've nothing to worry about Sota, I'm better like this. Now I'm going to put you to sleep while I perform the surgery, when you wake up you'll be ... better."

Right after Tsunade put you to sleep, you woke up in a small lake.

"Long time no see," Matatabi greeted you. "I can't tell if you're incredibly stupid or incredibly unlucky at this point."

"Maybe both?" You replied.

"At least this wasn't completely your fault. If you had asked me instead of your sensei stealing my power, I might have been able to fix your leg. Tell him to apologize!" She growled.

"I will," you replied. "Do you think you could teach me to use your fire? I don't have any offensive Jutsu and I cannot always rely on explosive tags."

"You would just get hurt. Normally I would find that quite funny, but now it is just sad. My fire is much hotter than what of your friends, so without a lot of experience with fire, it will do more harm to you than it is worth," she said before going back to sneering at you. "And forget about me helping you before your sensei apologize. He should feel himself how it feels to have your chakra forcefully dragged out like that."

"Did it hurt?" You asked her.

"Of course it hurts! Now don't' talk to me before he admits his mistake, I will be watching, so don't lie to me!" She yelled.

"I will," you replied.

"I said stop talking to me. Now let me sleep," Matatabi said and got into a more comfortable position.

-x-

You woke up from the mind space by Tsunade touching your forehead.

"Good news, everything went well," Tsunade told you.

"So my leg is back?" You asked.

"No, it will probably take a few months for you to recover properly, but at least it will start to grow now," she was pretty red in her face now. How much had she drunk?

"Oh," you replied.

"I think you should lay down now Tsunade," Shizune told her.

"I'm fine, I've not drunk that much," she said swatting her apprentice away with her hand.

Looking at the table beside her you could see that the bottle of sake was still more than half full so it might not be much for her. At least that was before you saw the empty bottle laying on the floor. It was a miracle that she hadn't seriously messed up something.

"I'm going to fit you with a prosthetic leg. It will need some adjusting as your leg grows and it won't be perfect, but with a bit of training you might be able to go on some easy missions," she explained.

She brought out a quite crude looking leg and began fastening it to the stump of your real leg that had somehow gotten even shorter during the procedure.

"Step down so I can adjust it properly," she said and you did as you were told. She adjusted some screws so each leg was equally long.

"Try to walk a few steps," she said.

It was quite a strange experience. The knee was quite stiff and you had to put a lot of pressure on it for it to bend as it was held back by a spring.

"Hmm, I need to adjust it a bit," she said and loosened a screw in your new knee. "Try now."

It was a bit easier, but still far from real walking and you were a bit afraid you'd slip as the end fo the leg was just a rounded metal rod.

"You will need to reapply the medicine in the coming months. Danzo has gotten all the instructions you need so don't have to worry about anything. I recommend that you start training with your team again, but stop if your leg starts to hurt too much or else you risk doing damage to your leg. Got it?"

"Got it," you said. "Thanks for your help."

Without warning, Tsunade dropped to the floor.

"Tsunade!" Shizune called out and went down to check on her.

"Let's go," Danzo said and left the room before you.

You were allowed to walk on your own to the tunnels, but from there it was back on the Root agent's back and on with the blindfold.

-x-

The next day you were walking around the village to get used to your leg. Your team was out on a mission so you weren't able to rejoin them for some days.

One thing that took a bit to get used to was how the leg stuck different surfaces. Walking on grass was terrible as it dug into the ground, but roads were okay.

Tree walking was impossible and you weren't sure why you even tried that one. There was no grip at all as you couldn't channel chakra through the rod, all you managed was a single step.

So you stuck to just walking on solid ground for the rest of the week.

-x-

You woke up to someone knocking on the door. You hurried to open the door as you were tired of people just barging in on their own.

You took a few steps backwards when you saw Danzo in the doorway.

"What do you want?" You asked him.

"Your weekly check-up is due. Your team is back, so come down after you're done," he exclaimed.

"Okay," you replied.

Danzo walked into your apartment and ripped off the paper with Hiruzen's face that you had used for target practice.

"I didn't know you had that kind of traitorous views towards our Hokage," he said.

"I was bored as the ANBU forgot to bring my crutches" you replied.

"Forgot? How do you know its not intentional?" Danzo asked.

"I don't see why he should have done it on purpose, he must just have missed it," you said.

"The ANBU who were watching your apartment and saw you leave with your crutches somehow just forgot?" he asked.

"They seemed nice and helped me out, so why would I suspect them?" You asked.

"There is no contradiction between making this place nice so you want to stay here and take away the tools you need to move around. You already know that Hiruzen doesn't like our contact," Danzo said and moved to look at the other drawing, the on of himself. Without warning, he threw a kunai at you that graced your cheek.

"What did you do that for?" You asked.

"You seemed to have fun throwing kunai at my face," he said.

"That doesn't give you the right to throw them at me!" You yelled at him.

He threw another one too fast for you to react, hitting your forehead with its blunt end. "Ouch," you said and clutched your head and you could feel the blood flowing from the wound.

"Know your place genin. If you had worn your forehead protector, that wouldn't have happened. And if you had worn your new seal you wouldn't have to worry about any kunai hitting your face."

"But I was sleeping, you just woke me up," you argued.

"The enemy isn't going to wait for you to wake up and get ready before they attack. From now on make sure to put on your headband before you open the door and keep the seal on you at all times. I'll send someone to check," Danzo said.

"You're not going to throw kunai at me while I'm asleep, right?" You asked.

Danzo didn't say anything and his facial expression was his old stoic one.

That was exactly what he meant. "Leave me alone, please," you pleaded. Why did he have to fuck with you at every opportunity? You were making that seal to protect yourself, not to invite Danzo to stab you while you were sleeping.

"If you don't want your leg back, you are free to not come back down. I'll inform Hiruzen that you won't return to service again due to permanent injury," Danzo said and turned around to leave.

"Wait, I'll come tonight, so no need to talk to the Hokage."

"I'm getting tired of your indecisiveness, but I will give you another chance," Danzo said and left.

-x-

After getting dressed and making sure you had that damn seal in your pocket, you left for the training ground.

"Welcome back Sota," Raidou greeted you as you arrived.

"Thanks, I'm glad to see you guys again too," you said.

"Before we start, I want a few words in private with you," he said.

You walked with him to a more isolated area.

"I know what's going on with you and Danzo, but I'm not going to hold that against you. I can see that you don't like the situation. Torune's father has been spreading rumours about you and has tried to have you removed from the team. But unless the Hokage is telling me to remove you, you're staying. You will not be allowed to be alone with Torune. I don't think Danzo has any motives with you on this team and the Hokage has ensured me that Danzo had nothing to do with your team placement, so Shibi's worries are unfounded. But still, he has a bit of influence I cannot go against. So keep your distance to Torune," Raidou said.

"I get it. I want to get away too, but I can't," you replied.

"Let us go back so they don't start to eavesdrop on us," he said.

"One more thing please," you said.

"Alright, what is it?" He asked.

"The Two-tails want you to apologize for forcefully using her chakra," you said.

"I did what I had to do, I will not apologize for that," he said.

"I know that, but it still hurt her," you said.

"I don't know why this is so important for you, but okay, I apologize for using her chakra without asking. No, let us go back," he said.

-x-

"Today we will be doing some training reaction exercises," Raidou said and pointed to a weird looking box he had placed on a table. "Have you ever used this in training before Sota?" he asked you.

"No," you replied. You had no idea at all what is what. For all you knew, it could be a bomb that you had to defuse.

"It''s not hard. When I click this button, a coloured box will come up. Your task is to react to it properly before the bell rings," he said and demonstrated it. "I'm going to change the colours around every day we're using it, so don't get too used to the colours. For today, blue means don't move, yellow drop to the ground, green move backwards and red forwards. You will have to continue this till you get it right enough times in a row, so take this as a motivation to take it seriously. The more you improve the better performance I will demand out of you. Do you understand Sota?"

You nodded.

"Alright, let us started," he said.

After a minute or so of waiting, a green box appeared. You tried recalling what green meant, backwards, but before you could move, the bell rang.

It would maybe be easier to watch what they were doing, but that would be cheating and Raidou would probably find a way to trip you up if you did that.

The next one was yellow, dropping down, you could remember that. But your leg wouldn't cooperate properly.

"Just drop to the ground Sota and catch your fall with your hands, don't worry about your knees. I'll wait till you get it," Raidou said.

You tried and the body kind of resisted, it didn't want to just fall. You tried lifting your real leg so you could pivot on your fake leg and soon after you were on the ground. Not the best landing, but you could work on it.

Now how to get up again?

It continued like this for a while, some successes, some late attempts and some failed where you either reacted wrong or simply didn't manage the movement with your prosthetic leg.

Kabuto was really good at this, at worst he showed some hesitation but for the most time quicker than both you and Torune. He was the oldest and possible Orochimaru spy, so it would only make sense that his reactions were pretty good.

"Alright Kabuto, thirty in the row is good enough. I want you to work on your stamina while we're continuing," Raidou said after a while.

Torune wasn't bad either, a few mistakes, mostly mixing up his reactions, especially if you were to stand still. But it was miles better than you, Raidou's definition of standing still made you fail every attempt when the blue box appeared.

How many in a row had you managed so far? At your best, three or four maybe. And Torune was on a pretty good streak now.

The next one went horrible as you lost your balance and fell backwards.

"Everything okay Sota?" Raidou asked you.

"I'm fine," you replied.

"Good. Torune, you can join Kabuto now," Raidou said.

"Good luck Sota," Torune said and left.

"How long are we going to do this?" You asked.

"Till you manage ten in a row. Your best is five so far, so don't lose hope," he said.

Attempt after attempt you failed. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it. It was not like reacting to someone in real life wherein a fight you would dodge when the opponent was striking. How many times had you reacted to that stupid box by now? 100, 200? You had no idea. You were half tempted to check if this wasn't some cruel genjutsu someone had put on you.

It was not even hard. Just the same four things over and over again.

"Sota, focus," Raidou said.

"I'm trying to focus, but I cannot get it."

"You're mostly messing up when you're supposed to stand still, so focus on that," he said.

"I'm focusing on everything," you said.

"You don't get it, do you. Instead of trying to succeed on every box, make sure you succeed on the blue boxes," he said.

"If I only focus on standing still when I have to, I will fail all the others and never be done with this."

"So what? You're not getting anyway with what you're doing now. When it is blue, stand still, and when it's not, move around. When you get that right, you can do the real task again."

"I'll try," you said.

It was kind of easier, but also frustrating as you weren't getting closer to completing this stupid task and your stomach was starting to rumble.

And you weren't the only one getting hungry as Kabuto and Torune were getting back from whatever exercise they had been doing.

"You two can start eating," Raidou said.

"Shouldn't we eat together?" Torune asked.

"Sota her is getting lunch when he has finished the exercise," Raidou said.

He wasn't one of Kakashi's old classmate at the 'Academy of Not giving your genin food' right?

But you weren't physically tired, just hungry so you could go on.

"He's just seven, cut him some slack Sensei, he will focus better on a full stomach," Kabuto argued.

"I'm not underestimating him due to his age, he can keep going. And there is no point to this exercise if there are no stakes involved. I'll be doing him a disservice on our next mission if I let him get hurt again just because he hadn't trained properly."

"Now let us continue Sota, you're getting better even if it doesn't feel like it."

You were suspicious about Kabuto, but you weren't going to think he was sabotaging you by suggesting a lunch break. But Raidou had a point, the fact that he withheld lunch from you helped your motivation. So you just waited for it to activate again. Another blue and you got it. It was time to build a streak again. Forward, down, down, back, down, forward, still, still. You were at nine, just one more and you had it. The last one was green. That was back, but you put your weight on the wrong leg and fell over.

You almost had it and you ruined it.

"Please let me stop now, I almost got it," you said.

"Torune and Kabuto managed a lot more than that. Does your leg hurt too much?" He asked.

"No, it's fine," you replied.

"Then there is no reason to stop, you just need to keep trying till you get it. A ninja doesn't give up this easily. If you're hungry, just do it right and you can eat."

Your brain felt more and more sluggish. You were not going to get any better without food, but you were not going to get food from Catch-22-sensei before you managed it.

You got up again and waited for it to activate another time. And the cycle repeated itself, a good chunk right before you failed somehow. As the hours flew by and it started to get darker, you were more and more tempted to claim that your leg was going to hurt.

The sun was gone when you reached a streak of nine again.

"Good work Sota. We're done now," Raidou said.

"Isn't there one more?" You asked. He didn't say it just so you could stop, right?

"You must have counted wrong," Raidou said. "Let me buy you some food. I don't think the lunch I brought is any good now and I've not eaten in a while either."

"Thanks," you said. "I hope this has been useful because I never want to do it again."

"I'm sorry, but we're going to do it again and much harder. But we'll switch it around a bit. My goal is to make you better, not make you dread the team exercises."

-x-

You followed him to a food stand and he ordered chicken wok and rice for you two. And as soon as the plate was in front of you, you grabbed the chopsticks and stuffed your mouth with food and paid Raidou no attention. After the first few mouthfuls, you slowed down a bit again as your stomach didn't feel that empty anymore."

"Is there something you want to talk about?" He asked you.

"I'm not sure if I can," you replied.

"Danzo?"

You nodded.

"You should talk to the Hokage about him," Raidou suggested.

"He knows. But he and Danzo have something going on and if I say the wrong things my tongue will just lock up," you said.

"I'll go talk to him right now, let me just pay for the food first."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Danzo said behind you.

"Councilman Shimura, what do you I owe you the pleasure here?" Raidou said, changing up his tone completely.

"I'm just here to retrieve Sota, we had an appointment but you kept him for the entire day. And don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, it will only bring you bad luck," Danzo said.

"Are you threatening me?" Raidou asked.

"I've not forced Sota to do anything, so if you're going to claim otherwise to Hiruzen, I will have to take action. Follow me Sota or our deal is over," he said.

"Good night," you told Raidou before taking one more bite of the food jumped off your stool.

Would you ever get rid of him? There was nothing you could do before your leg was healed. But after that, could you do anything then? Danzo was a threat to anyone who would try to help you. You wanted to discuss this with Shisui and Itachi, but you weren't sure how permitting the seal was. You should get rid of it. But that would require Danzo teaching you how and he was for sure not give you anything that could help. You could maybe get some help from Hizashi, but that was probably a bad idea and it didn't seem like he had any idea either. And you were for sure not going to experiment on your tongue, who knows what would happen if you meddled with it.

"Lay down on your bed, my medics will take care of everything," Danzo said.

One of his masked agents put a hand to your forehead and you fell asleep.

-x-

When you woke up again, it felt like almost no time has passed, but the medic was gone and Danzo was still sitting there. Why hadn't you visited Matatabi this time? Did Tsunade put you to deeper sleep?

"We've adjusted your leg again and it's growing fine," Danzo said. "If you want this to continue, you should come back regularly and study."

"How often is regularly? Once a week, more, less?" You asked.

"You can consider yourself how much you want to risk it by not coming down here," he said.

"That doesn't tell me anything," you complained.

"It does tell you to not slack off," Danzo said. "And don't you want to improve your seals anyway?"

"I don't know what I want," you replied.

"It's your choice whatever you do," he said.

"But you're punishing me for not coming here, how is that a free choice?" You asked.

"You cannot demand favours without giving anything back. I help you because Konoha needs strong ninja. If you don't care anymore I don't care either. I won't waste lots of resources on helping a mediocre ninja. Most with your kind of injury would have retired as a ninja now. You owe your future ninja career to my effort. You act like I'm the bad guy here while you're acting like a spoiled brat. It's me that should quit helping you."

"Go away, I want to sleep," you said.

"Don't forget your seal. I don't want to find a bloody bed here tomorrow," Danzo said and left.

You took a look in your pocket and it seemed like you had enough charges left in the seal, so you were in the clear for now.

-x-

Next morning your priority was to get away from this place. As you changed your clothes, you could see a new cut in your pyjamas. Danzo had been serious about checking your kunai seal.

On the way to the training ground, you saw Shisui. "Good morning Sota, do you have time to talk a bit?"

"Good morning Shisui, its some time to meeting start so it's okay," you replied.

"I got a mission for us, I don't know much details yet but we're leaving tomorrow," he said.

"Sounds good, but I'm not sure how much I can tell you about you know what, Danzo got my tongue," you explained.

"Oh... shit," Shisui mumbled, not being able to hide it from you. "We'll figure something out. Can I follow? I should probably speak to your sensei when I take you out on a mission like this."

"Sure," you replied and began to walk to the training ground. "Is Itachi back?"

"Yes, he seemed to be better now, but I don't want to jinx it by mentioning Sasuke."

"Probably for the best, do you see any sign that things will better between them, is Sasuke still as mad at him?"

"I don't know, Naruto hasn't mentioned anything. I want to just give them some time, it will be better soon. Sasuke will probably give up being grumpy and wish Itachi back," Shisui said.

"Hi there Sota, and you are Uchiha Shisui right?" Raidou asked as you arrived at the training ground.

"Hi there Raidou, I want a few words with you about Sota," Shisui said.

"Should we find another place to talk?" Raidou asked.

"No need. I'm just informing you that we're going out on a mission tomorrow and I hope that's fine with you?" Shisui asked.

"What need to you have for him? It's quite unusual to grab a fresh genin like this for a non-team mission, I want a reason," Raidou demanded.

"Oh, he's just a friend and I want to take him along, I hope it's not too big of a problem, I'll take good care of him," Shisui said.

"Is it just you two?" He asked.

"That's the plan yes. I'm sorry I cannot tell you more as I don't know everything myself yet. All I know is that its safe to take him along," Shisui said.

"Alright. I don't plan to bring him on any mission anytime soon and he cannot have any worse luck than at his first mission. But now I think we should start the training for today, so I'll ask you to leave."

"That's fine," Shisui said. "Bye Sota"

"Bye," you replied.

"He's not causing you any issues right?" Raidou asked after he had left.

"He's fine, he has helped me before when I was in trouble and is a good friend," you said.

You walked up to the others.

"There will be no missions today either, so we'll focus on training. Do anyone have any wishes for the day?" He asked.

You raised your hand. "Do you think you can teach me nature transformation?"

"I'm not sure if that's a valuable use of your time right now," Raidou said.

"Why not?" You asked.

"You're not lacking in offensive capabilities, you've practically an unlimited amount of explosive tags at the moment. What you lack is in defence, reaction and speed," Raidou explained. "Is there any reason you think you would need to learn new Jutsu at the moment?"

"What if I lose my explosive tags somehow or if I want something less destructive? It's not like I can train my physical strength fully till my leg recovers. Besides, it would be something more fun for me to do in between all the tedious exercises," you argued.

"Alright Sota, I'll get you some chakra paper next time and we'll work on your nature then. For today I suggest that you work on your speed. I want you to run on intervals of ten minutes on and ten minutes off to not put too much strain on your leg.

"Torune, do you want to join Sota or do you have anything else you want to work on?" Raidou asked.

"I could work on my speed too," Torune replied.

"You really need to work on your offence one day," Raidou said.

"But I don't want to hurt anyone," Torune replied.

"Alright, we take that another day. Kabuto, they've time for you at the hospital if you want to learn more there, or you can join us."

"I think I'll go to the hospital. My speed isn't what holding me back."

"Alright, you can decide yourself if you want to join us for lunch or not," Raidou said. "Now I will count how many rounds you can do in ten minutes. Torune, run as fast as you can. If you don't manage ten minutes you'll just take a break," Raidou explained.

He couldn't be expected to keep up with your near-unlimited stamina.

-x-

After training for the day was over you went back to Danzo's hideout. Since you were going away from some days, you better fill your quota so he didn't get too mad. You doubted that he'd actually follow up on his threat if didn't study enough, but there would be a cost to continue that you didn't want to pay. So you had to do your best now and see later how much you could get away with without complaints. Danzo wasn't stupid, so he would know to strike a balance to not scare you off completely.

You brought out your clone again as you needed someone who could help you test your seals. But as you tried summoning him, he just poofed away. What was wrong? You tried again and again, but the same result as the last time. what had changed?

Your fake leg, it was in the way for the clone. And you had no idea how to even detach the prosthetic limb and if you messed it up, Danzo would for sure punish you for it. Not all hope was gone, but the clone would probably hate you for not summoning him for several months.

You should improve your kunai defence seal. It was kind of useful now, but it had its limitations. The biggest problem was that kunai had to make real contact with your body so your clothes were in danger, but you still had no idea how to fix that. A much easier problem to solve was to stash more kunai into one seal so you should start there.

Storing explosions and storing kunai were completely different, one was energy and the other was matter, but should you at least try to replicate what you did with your upgraded explosion absorption seal? What would happen if the seal failed? If it just shot out the kunai, it wasn't bad, you could defend yourself from that. If it somehow made a giant kunai, which were quite unlikely, your seals might not be enough. You had no idea how flexible your seals were as you'd only tested with standard-issue kunai, but your intent when making it could have affected its performance. The third option was that it simply exploded, and you had no idea how to estimate that.

You could make it just to see if you sensed something from it. But you had no idea how to safely test it without getting in trouble. And you were definitely not going to ask Danzo for any more help. If you learnt how to protect yourself against explosions automatically, then the risk of getting blown up by a faulty seal would drop. It could even be part of your future fighting style. Blow up explosive seals at close range and have it only affect the attacker and not yourself. An anti-Taijutsu defence would be incredibly useful since you were going to be small and weak for a long time.

Thanks to your clone's reckless testing, you knew how to safely test the limits of your previous explosion absorption seal as it glowed a fair bit before it failed. And that was with your clone trying to push its limits.

But how could make it activate on explosions? Detecting the heat was one way, but then you risk it would go amock just by standing in the sun. The heat from an explosion and the sun was different, but still, it just felt like the wrong track to go down. And if you were going to make different ones for fire and explosions you needed something a bit more reliable. While you were waiting for divine inspiration, you started to create a solid stack of single-use kunai absorbers.

The sealing voices in your head were completely silent. It made sense, it didn't allow you to make seals out of nothing, you had to figure out the necessary piece first and you had non. Wait, could you use a stored explosion to compare against. No, that was the same as just using the kanji for explosion, it wouldn't help any. But maybe there could be something to it.

Shockwaves? No that was not specific enough as sound also counted as shockwaves, so it would activate when someone was talking to you and somehow record sound? That seemed a bit farfetched that it would only preserve the frequencies.

Maybe you should just go to bed? You had a mission the next so you should prioritize getting well-rested. You were at least not going to sleep here for the night, so you packed up what you needed and went back home.

-x-

The first thing you did in the morning was to check for kunai holes in your pyjama. A lot more holes than you had expected. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and you might even have missed some. If he was going to be that active, your stock would run out much quicker than expected and you would need a new PJ. But at least you could feel safe in case an assassin only armed with a handful of kunai were to attack.

You heard knocking on the door. Before opening, you made sure to put on your forehead protector in case Danzo had plans to hit you in the forehead again.

When it was safely tied to your head, you opened the door. And you were happy to see that it was Shisui.

"Good morning Sota, why are your clothes full of holes?" he asked.

"D...," you tried saying but your tongue locked itself up. The seal didn't seem to activate on every mention of Danzo, but was this different as you tried to blame him for something? In the lack of words, you just put a hand over your right eye to imitate Danzo.

"Oh, I see, I still don't understand why, but I'm sure Danzo has a terrible reason for what he's doing," he replied. "Get dressed, get something to eat and meet up at the gates in an hour, it's time for our mission. I'll bring some food and water for the journey."

"Okay, I see you in an hour then," you replied.

-x-

An hour later and you arrived at the gate.

"Hi Shisui, what's wrong?" You asked, looking at him, something had to have changed the last hour.

"I think I seriously messed up on here. I'm sorry, we will not be alone after all." Shisui.

In front of you dropped an ANBU agent. White mask and dressed exactly like Shisui for some reason.

"Who are you?" Shisui asked.

"You can call me Crow, I will be leading this mission. Take this," he said and threw an identical mask to Shisui. "Put it on."

Shisui obeyed and they were quite similar. They didn't have the exact same build and this ANBU was a bit larger, but if you didn't see them side by side it would be quite hard to tell them apart.

"Your name for this mission will be Dove," Crow explained.

"What about Sota?" Shisui asked.

"He will be Sota," Crow said.

"Tell me what is going on here? This was not part of the plan. Do you have any paper on you proving your authority here?" Shisui asked.

Crow retrieved a scroll from his uniform and handed it to Shisui.

Shisui stopped to read it. "Danzo signed this and he got the mission from the Hokage. I've no idea what is going on here, I didn't think the Hokage would approve on Danzo sending Sota out on a mission."

"Who says that he knows?" Crow asked.

"I'm going to stop this right here," Shisui said.

"Are you sure?" Crow asked.

"What is it to not be sure about?" Shisui asked.

"I cannot guarantee for Sota's safety while you talk to the Hokage. He might get attacked and I'm not sure if I can defend him."

Shisui's eye turned red. No don't Shisui, don't reveal your Mangekyuu powers! But it stayed in its basic form.

"What is your plan? Kill me and run away with Sota?" Crow asked.

"I...," Shisui was lost for words.

"I hope the rest of your clan aren't that rebellious. You don't have to come, I and Sota can solve this mission alone," Crow said.

Shisui dropped to the ground and clutched his head.

"We'll be leaving now. Bye, Dove," Crow said and grabbed your hand and started to run. It was a bit hard to follow suit, but it was not faster than what was manageable. It was a miracle that your leg cooperated as well.

After just ten seconds, Shisui ran up along your side.

"You made the right decision Dove," Crow said.

"It's the best I can do to protect Sota," Shisui said.

"Why do you think Sota needs protection? The attack I talked about was just a joke, I can handle any threat on the way," Crow said.

"Can you at least tell us where we're going? I got no mission info," Shisui asked.

"Stop acting like a child and ask so many question Dove. But if you somehow get lost, you'll find us in Wave," Crow said.

"Why are Danzo sending ANBU to Wave?" Shisui asked.

"You don't need to know right now. I think you should take inspiration from Sota here and not ask so many questions."

-x-

A few hours later Crow stopped.

"We should take a break and get something to eat before we continue," Crow said. "Come with me Dove, I've something I need to take care of and I don't want you to be alone with Sota. Just in case you decide to run away with him."

Despite not being able to see Shisui's face, you could easily tell by the rest of his body language that he was not happy about it.

You really hoped Crow was just going to use the facilities, and not take him deeper into the woods to kill him. What were you going to do if he showed up alone? What could you about someone capable of killing Shisui? You had your explosive tags, but you had never tried them in actual combat yet and you had no idea how real ninja would deal with them. Most likely he would dodge and easily strike you back with his sword.

A few minutes later both of them showed up, so no need to worry about Shisui dying.

Shisui handed you a bento box and you began to eat. When Crow saw that you and Shisui were done eating, he got up again. "It's time to get going again."

He didn't grab your hand this time, so you were allowed to run for your own machine. But after just a few minutes it seemed like Crow was getting impatient and grabbed your hand again so he could speed up.

-x-

It was getting quite dark when Crow slowed down again and you could see an illuminated bridge in the distance. The Great Naruto Bridge. Or it wouldn't be called that for a few years, or rather this was an entirely different bridge.

"We'll make camp here for the night," Crow said.

"What are we doing here?" Shisui asked.

"Stop acting like a child Dove," Crow replied. "Be patient. You don't see Sota here complaining."

"Let us eat," Crow contiued.

Shisui handed you another box and you sat down to eat.

No one said much during the meal and when you were done, Crow rolled out a sleeping matt in front of you.

"I and Dove will take the first watch. Sleep so you'll be ready for your watch and not be too useless tomorrow."

You laid down trying to sleep, but it wasn't easy. Sleeping was a ninja skill you weren't that good at yet. Though you were not sure if you actually wanted to sleep now. You didn't like Crow at all and you would be up watching him if it was up to you.

After maybe an hour, you were still not able to sleep, but Crow and Shisui had started to talk.

"What is up with the masks?" Shisui asked.

"I don't see any problem with them?" Crow answered.

"Why isn't Sota wearing one?"

"Do you know why ANBU wear masks?"

"Do hide their identity?" Shisui asked.

"Wrong. It is to put a wall between their ANBU self and their normal self. Here you're Dove and any crimes you do on behalf of Konoha rests on the mask. But when you get home you're Shisui who has done nothing wrong and can sleep well at night."

"I don't see where you are going with this," Shisui said.

"Sota can't quit, he is a weapon for Konoha 24/7. His purpose is to do what's best for Konoha. Not to follow his own dreams, values or goals. It's time you and Itachi realize that he is not a normal kid," Crow said.

"I'm stopping this mission here, I've had enough of this," Shisui.

"Are you sure about that, you keep threatening that but you never follow through," Crow said and you could hear his muffled steps moving towards you.

You were glad that pretending to sleep was something you learnt in the academy. They rightfully assumed that academy students were too weak to make any opposition if any dangerous situation were to occur, so it was best to just pretend to sleep and listen in on what happened around you.

You focused on your breathing, making sure you didn't react to anything being said and move your eyes around to imitate dreaming.

You could feel the hot air coming from Crow as he was right in your face. But you just continued breathing at a steady pace.

"He's sleeping, so don't wake up him," Shisui said. "I can see his chakra with my Sharingan."

He got out of your face, but then your shirt was being pulled up and cold metal was brushing your stomach.

"I had quite fun with my sword last time. I'm sure you saw the damages and yet he keeps coming back. Maybe I should give him another lesson when we come back? Though I won't go easy on him this time," Crow said.

"I will not let you do that again?" Shisui said.

"What are you going to do about that Dove? If you come back alone everyone would know that you killed me. And when we're back in the village, I'm no longer Crow so there is nothing you can do to me."

"If you fail this mission, you will get in trouble with Danzo," Shisui argued.

"If I come back without you, I'll get away with it. Sure the boy might become more uncooperative if I kill you, but we can work on that."

Time to wake up to prevent Shisui from escalating the situation. He could solve this by using his Mangekyuu, but that would reveal the secret to Danzo and you could not let that happen.

You slowly broke your act and sat up, still keeping your eyes mostly shut. "Is it my turn already?" you mumbled.

"Yes," Dove said.

"I can take the next watch with him if you want," Shisui said.

"That won't be necessary, go to sleep, we can handle it," Crow said and turn to you. "Watch the bridge and the island and report back to me if you see someone heading towards us."

It was quite boring and you rather not piss off Crow by falling asleep. Wave itself was quite dark so there was nothing to see there. For the next hours, the best you could see was some cats wandering about on the bridge but no people.

"Sota, Crow is sleeping now so we can talk in private," Shisui said and sat down beside you.

"Are you sure he is sleeping?" You asked. "Crow didn't seem to notice that I was not really sleeping earlier, and I bet he's better at pretending than me."

"His chakra is too calm for him to be awake, but we can walk somewhere more private if you are afraid he'll wake up," Shisui suggested.

You took one look back at Crow just to make sure he was sleeping and not dropping his pretend as soon as you moved away.

"Alright, let's go," you said and followed Shisui.

"Should we really go this far away, we are kind of supposed to keep watch?" You asked him.

"Keeping watch here is just a formality, and I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind him getting attacked in his sleep," Shisui said.

"And having you get in trouble for letting him die?"

"Don't worry Sota, Crow will be able to react to any potential threat we face here. It's not like missing-nin attack random ANBU for fun."

You had walked for perhaps five minutes when Shisui decided to stop.

"We should be safe here. Tell me everything Danzo is planning to do."

"Alright, some things might have changed since I got my vision but I'll tell you what I got initially. When Sasuke is eight, your clan will be planning a coup and Itachi were supposed to spy for the village on your clan. But it's not like Itachi would be spilling any information now that he would know what it's going to be used for. I don't know the timeline of everything or if Itachi has already hinted towards a coup," you explained. "For all I know, someone else might have taken up the task instead."

Not once did your seal lock up, was the seal limited to stopping you from saying things Danzo knew you knew?

"I'll ask Itachi about it next time we're alone," Shisui said.

"Good. But it's not enough to prevent the village from knowing what your clan is up to. If the coup happens your family will be in danger as there is no way you can win. And even if you win, it's not an outcome we can stand behind. A civil war might lead to the destruction of the village."

"So what can we do?" Shisui asked.

"I don't know. I fear if you tell Fugaku what Danzo is planning to do, he would just be even more secretly about everything and be more motivated to engage in a coup.

"You and Itachi need to convince him to make peace with the village somehow without telling him what will happen if you don't. But that's not all of our problems," you said.

"Something worse than my clan planning a coup and Danzo planning to kill us all?" Shisui asked.

"Uchiha Madara, or Uchiha Obito which is his real name. He was Kakashi's old teammate and was presumed dead during the war, but was somehow rescued and brainwashed by Madara. He might want your clan dead too, I don't know what he wants. All I know is that he will force Itachi to let him help if Itachi were to accept the mission. So if you wondered how Itachi would be able to take out your clan, that's the answer, he won't be alone."

"Can you tell me more about Obito?"

"I don't know everything you know," you said as you felt a bit uneasy telling Shisui too much. But at the same time, Itachi and Shisui had to be prepared for him.

"Could I and Itachi beat him if we were to find him?" he asked.

"No, not even the Fourth could beat him," you said.

"What does this Obito have to do with the Fourth?" He asked.

"Obito killed him. So when people blamed your clan for what happened during the Kyuubi attack, they weren't that far off," you explained.

"He can turn himself intangible passing through anything and disappear and appear from nowhere. If he wanted to, he could probably assassinate anyone he wanted to. He's dangerous and needs to be defeated. If you ever fight him, watch out for his chains and be aware that he can use his Sharingan to survive death for a limited amount of time," you continued.

"It sounds like your future vision is stronger than what you have shown earlier. Are you sure you're not dreaming it all up?"

"I cannot be completely sure. Somethings I get completely wrong. For all I know, there are no plans of a coup or Danzo isn't planning to kill you all. But should we really risk that?" You asked.

"You have shown that there is some truth to your powers in the past so I guess you're right," Shisui said.

"I'm just not sure if acting on any of this is smart or if I should just keep it to myself. Killing Danzo would be one way to prevent a lot of this. But with Danzo dead and Root dismantled, your clan might be encouraged to go ahead with the coup as the village won't be able to put up as much resistance without Root.

"You and Itachi just need to figure something out. Just know that I might be wrong. But the safest bet would be to make peace and not let Danzo know what you're doing. I don't want you to die," you told him.

"I won't die Sota," Shisui replied. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Not really,"

"Alright, let's go back and hope that Crow hasn't woken up," Shisui said. "And let's pretend this didn't happen, we don't Crow to be suspicious."

"Wait, one more thing. I think Danzo has a Sharingan hidden under his bandages. I have no idea where he got it, but he might be able to cheat death with it too. If you ever are back into a corner, don't expect Danzo to stay dead. When it is over, he'll blow himself up and try to take you with him," Shisui.

"Thanks for the warning, we will manage this, don't worry," Shisui said. "But now we really need to get back now."

When you got back, you could see that Crow was still sleeping.

"You can go back to sleep if you want, you look tired," Shisui said.

"Thanks," you said and yawned. It was much easier to get to sleep now than earlier.

-x-

Next morning you woke up by Crow's kicking foot in your side. "Wake up."

You still felt like you hadn't got enough sleep, but you got up to avoid his wrath.

"We don't have any more food, so I want you to go into the village and buy some stuff for us. Here is a list of what we need and money to pay with," Crow said. "And watch out for anything suspicious or any foreign ninja. Don't engage them, just report back to us afterwards."

Wouldn't Itachi and Kakashi have caught that when they were in the village? Or were any enemy ninja more likely to hide from them than you?

"Alright," you replied and began walking towards the bridge, it would be easier if you could walk on the water, but that wasn't going to happen without your real leg.

"Wait for a second, I want you to give me your headband, I don't want them to see that you're a ninja. And ask around about the village and try to learn something about their success." Crow said.

You turned back and gave it to him before heading towards the village again.

You got into a steady tempo though far slower than what Crow had dragged you at the day before.

The bridge was already buzzing with activity when you got there and you needed to be careful to not get hit by any of the carts that were going around there.

You took it slow as you crossed the bridge to not upset anyone else there.

First on the list was some bread. So you had to try to find a bakery.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can buy bread," you asked a random bypasser.

"Over there," she said and pointed to a building on the other side of the street.

"Thanks."

Inside you could see an abundance of different bakery goods. It was amazing to see how well the place was doing before it all went to hell and Gato took over.

"Hi, can you help me. I've got a list of what I need here," you said and handed them the list you got from Crow.

"Let me see," she said and grabbed a paper bag and began filling it." That will be 300 Ryo."

You handed her the money and she gave you the bag.

"Thanks."

"It's my pleasure," she said. "You'll find the fish you need down at the harbour. Just follow the road to the right and the smell of fish should guide you the rest of the way. "

You followed their direction and saw some ships being loaded with goods. Along the pier was multiple fish stands. Some dealing with customers and other retrieving more goods from the ships docking next to them.

You walked past several of them to see if there was any difference in price, but they were all the same. Made sense, the competition would just match your prices if you went too low and everyone would lose money. So all that mattered was the amount they could sell. So you just went to a random man and did the same as you did at the bakery.

"That will be 600 Ryo," he said.

Looking through the pouch of money you had gotten. "Umm, I don't have enough," you said.

"Oh, how much do you have?" He asked.

"500 Ryo," you replied.

"Hmm. You know what, I'll cover the rest so don't have to get in trouble with your parents. You didn't buy sweats for them did you?" He asked.

"No," you replied.

"It's okay, let us be a secret between us two," he said.

"I just weren't given enough money," you said and handed him your remaining money."

"Here you go," he said.

"I am not from here, so can I ask you about the village?" You asked.

"Go ahead," he said.

"What makes this place so rich?"

"The import of crops from the land of fire helps a lot and the bridge makes it easier to transport goods to the village. Things were much worse before it came. We offer quite competitive prices, so most farmers prefer to sell it to us. Then we process it and ship it out of here for a higher price. And ships that come to buy our stuff also come with goods we can buy for a reasonable price. One good factor builds upon another and we've grown to be a decent trading hub. Konoha isn't too happy that we're taking so many resources out of the country, but what can they do about that?" he laughed.

"Thanks," you said and left the stand.

Was there anything else you wanted to see here? You didn't remember anything about the layout of this place. And you couldn't just go up to the bridge builder and act like an infrastructural fanboy.

So you headed back to Crow and Shisui before Crow got too impatient and you were a bit hungry now so breakfast was nice.

As you arrived back, they were already ready with a fire to cook the fish.

Who was who again?

"Crow here is the food," you said to make him reveal himself. "And you didn't give me enough money."

"And how did you handle that?" He asked.

"The fishmonger was nice and gave me the last fish for free."

"I hope you were ready to steal it from him if not," Crow said.

"I wouldn't abuse their hospitality like that," you said.

"Did you see anything?" He asked.

"Nothing," you replied.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"How do I know if I saw something or not? I didn't see anyone dressing up as a ninja," you said.

"You weren't dressed up like a ninja either. Does that makes you not a ninja?" He asked. "Next time look closer. Look for body language, how people walk or if they seem to take too much interest in something or paying too much attention to people around them," Crow said. "I will write it down in the report that you failed your task. But there is no reason to go back, you will look too suspicious now," Crow said.

"Thanks, I guess," you said. Spying was not for you.

"I'm not saying it won't be any consequences for you, but that is not up to me," he said.

Always keeping you on eggshells.

"So what are we going to do now?" You asked. It wasn't just a trip so you could buy Crow breakfast.

"We'll wait till nightfall again," he said.

More waiting. Was there something you could fill your time with?

"Shi…" you tried to say.

"It's Dove," Crow corrected you.

"Dove, do you think you could teach me the Body Flicker while we're waiting?"

"I'm not sure if you can use it effectively at the moment," Shisui replied.

"Can we at least try, I wouldn't be able to master it in a few hours anyway," you argued. "Sensei wants me to become faster and I should try to take advantage of my chakra as my short legs are of little use on their own," you argued.

"Alright, just don't tell Naruto anything, he might make me teach it to him too and I doubt he'll be capable of it at the moment. It will either be a headache to try to teach him something he's not ready to learn and if he should be able to do it anyway, I'll probably get visited by lots of angry ANBU blaming me for not being able to catch Naruto after his pranks."

"I won't tell him and I promise I won't use it to prank people," you said.

"I will be keeping watch on you two," Crow said behind you.

"Without the Sharingan, you will be limited in your use of the body flicker for a long time as your eyes cannot keep up with the increased speed. But what you can expect to be able to dash forward at a much greater speed than your running, but at the cost of chakra. So let us get started," he said.

Hours after hours went past with just small breaks in between. In the end, you only managed a short dash that not useful for much as you were too disoriented to act afterwards and you were not able to chain it.

Crow had just finished cooking up some more fish when he called for you to stop.

"Let's eat and then we can finish the mission," he said.

After you were done, Crow revealed the content of a bag that he had kept hidden. It was full of the explosives tags you had made for Danzo and you didn't need to be told why he brought them with him.

"Since you're not able to walk on walls, you'll be staying here. But you've already done most of the job by making the explosive tags so don't worry about not contributing," Crow wait.

Did Danzo bring you here just to see you ruin the economy of Wave? Why?

Crow and Shisui walked on the water towards the bridge and it was quite hard to see them in the dark if you didn't know they were there. You could see them climbing up each the columns one by one and slowly covered them with explosives. After a while, they got back.

"Now all that remains is that you set them off. Use as much chakra as you can," Crow said.

Why did it have to be you? But there was no point in protesting. You formed a snake seal and focused all your chakra into it.

The bridge lit up and a fraction of a second later a loud blast reached your ears. Small pieces were flying everywhere with some flying into the village. The entire construction fell into the water creating a big splash and sending out large waves in every direction.

"It's time for us to leave. I'll put in a good word for you, you've done a great job," Crow said.

No one talked on the way back from Wave, and before you could go home, Crow whispered "Danzo want to see you now," in your ear.

You sighed in resignation before you headed towards the underground entrance. Why couldn't you get some peace? The only thing you could do was to take your time, that bastard could wait.

When you finally entered your room, he didn't look happy. Danzo never looked happy.

"Don't let me wait again," he said and hit you over the head with his cane.

"I'm sorry," you muttered.

"I've something I want to teach you as a reward for your performance in Wave," Danzo told you.

"No thanks," you replied. You didn't want to give him more ammunition to mess with you. And besides, "I don't deserve a reward for ruining people's livelihood and dooming the village to poverty," you said.

"It is not optional," Danzo said. "Let me show you."

He put a paper tag on your desk and put his fingers on it. Moments later a storage seal manifested itself.

"I'm sure you will find this useful."

It was. Not that you would use it for storage seals, but he wouldn't show it to you if it weren't more universal.

"Alright, teach me," you replied.

Danzo brought out a black bottle, ink? And put it on your desk.

"Drink it," Danzo ordered.

"You want me to drink ink?" You asked.

"Yes," he replied. "Don't you usually use ink for your seals?"

"I do but," you were going to say more, but you shut up as Danzo lifted his cane and you grabbed the bottle.

It tasted horrible and you stopped after a mouthful, you had to fight to keep it in.

"Feel for the ink as it goes into your body. It will be easier with some practice."

"I think I'll just do it the old way," you said.

A gentle tap from Danzo's cane made you reconsider.

"You will do the same as you did when you first learnt Fūinjutsu. Start with simple strokes and build yourself up to a complete seal," he explained and put a blank piece of paper in front of you.

That didn't explain how, but you had an inkling of an idea. You drew on the ink as if it was chakra and made a mental brush stroke with it as you touched the paper.

It was nothing fancy, but seeing the line one the paper made you smile. You couldn't tell it apart from a real brushstroke.

"You can figure out the rest yourself. I'll be checking on your progress, so do not disappoint me," he said and left.

You spent the rest of the day practising, making the symbols more and more complex, but not close to a seal yet. The ink still tasted bad, but you started to get used to it.

-x-

The team training the next day was a boring slog, but not every day as a ninja could be fun. Just as you got back home, someone knocked on the door.

Outside stood Shin. "Hi, can I come in?"

"I'm going to eat now, I just had a whole day of training with my team and I'm hungry," you said.

"I know, so I brought some food, I want to talk to you," he said.

"Did you watch me?" You asked him.

"Of course. What do you expect of me, I'm a Yamanaka. That's like being surprised that a Nara is lazy or that an Uchiha is moody," he said.

"It is a bit creepy you know, but come in," you said and held up the door.

"Thanks," he said. "You've people watching you all the time, would you call the ANBU creepy too?"

"Yes, I would," you replied. "Just sit down and I'll set the table."

Shin had brought some chicken curry and rice that he packed out.

"It's good," you said after taking your first bite.

"Thanks, my dad helped me make it. I need to learn how to make my own food in case something happens."

"Something happens?" You asked.

"Everything that happens from tomorrow on is a lie," he said.

"What do you mean?" You asked.

"I'm sure you can piece it together, I'm not allowed to tell you," he said.

"If I were smart, I wouldn't be in as much trouble as I'm now," you said.

"Hmm… Danzo right? Dad was told to keep me away from you, but…," Shin replied.

"You would be an effective spy with those mind-reading abilities of yours," you said.

Shin just smiled at you.

"Oh… so that's why you've been watching me and acting a bit weird, you've been practising?" you asked him.

"Not much of a practice watching you. Have you regretted anything you've done on a mission?" He asked.

"Yeah," you replied.

"What happened?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you," you replied.

"I'm not asking exactly what happened. I'm talking about why you regretted it."

"I guess ruining the lives of people who have done nothing wrong and only helpful should be clear enough," you said.

"I'm going to make my clan proud. I will still be joining Shikamaru and Choji on their genin team. Maybe you'll be our jounin sensei," he joked.

"I don't think that. Should you really be telling me all this?" You asked.

"It's not like you're going to tell anyone. Just watch out for Shikamaru and Choji. If they ask, tell them that I hope we can still be friends," he said.

"I will," you said and took another bite of the food.

"Thanks," he said. "How do you safely use explosive tags?"

"Explosive tags aren't exactly safe," you answered.

"What if you didn't want to risk killing someone if something goes wrong, just cause some minor injuries in case of an accident?" He asked and took a sip of water.

"You could use smaller ones with less firepower, they will be less effective so you need to use more of them for the same result, but they should be safer to handle. They're quite good for training, but they're also quite boring, so don't get your excitement up for them," you explained.

"Uhhh, where do I get some?" He asked.

"I can make you some," you said and got your bag. "It won't take long."

You had given away your batch of weak tags to Tenten and you hadn't made any since then, but it would be fast to create some new ones. You grabbed about ten blank paper tags, that should be enough for now.

You pushed aside your plate and began drawing with Shin stretching over the table to look, but it didn't seem like he understood much.

When you were done with your little pile, you handed them to him. "Here, be careful. They'll have a short fuse before they explode, so practice with them first to learn how much time you have. Just push some chakra into it and throw them or get away from them."

"Thanks," he said and put them in his pocket.

"Do you think it is enough?" You asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I think I need to be going home now, it's getting late."

"Good luck," you said.

"Thanks and don't tell anyone I was here," he said and went up to you and hugged you. "I'm sorry," was the last thing he said before he let go and left.

You forgot to ask him what he planned to use them for, but he seemed responsible enough, so why worry?

You cleaned up the dishes and put the leftovers in the fridge before going to bed. There wasn't much to do at your apartment, so better get a good night of sleep so your body would be prepared for whatever Raidou would throw at you.

-x-

You were about to go home from team practise the next day when you heard footsteps behind you.

"Sota, we want to talk to you," Shikamaru said. Ino and Choji were standing behind him.

"What is it? I'm hungry so if you want to go out and eat, I'm in," you replied.

"We know you framed Shin," he said and pointed a finger at you.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't try to play stupid. Shin wouldn't have attacked Sasuke," Shikamaru argued.

"He did what?"

'Don't tell me you used the explosives I gave you for that you stupid stupid Yamanaka!' You thought to yourself.

"Iruka heard an explosion before school started, and when he went to check, he found an injured Sasuke with Shin next to him. So Iruka concluded it must have been him. He swears he didn't do it, and we found strands of red hair in the classroom."

"I've not been to the academy since I graduated. Where is he now?" You asked.

"He… escaped the village. I know it doesn't look good for him. But he panicked I guess as no one believed him. The hair points at you and there no one else with red hair that it could be that also likes to blow up things."

"We both know that Shin doesn't like Sasuke, so why is this so unbelievable? What motives do I have?" You asked.

"Shin isn't a violent person and I believe in my friend," he said. Implying you weren't. "Sasuke attacked you similarly in the past, so this would make up for perfect revenge. Or you got ordered to do it, our parents didn't warn us against you for no reason."

"You're wrong about me," you said.

"Do you think I believe that?" Ino asked and lunged at you with a kunai. You quickly sidestep her attack, it wouldn't do anything, but you didn't have to let her know that.

She didn't give up with that, she kept trying to get in a hit. But her movements were slow and telegraphed.

"I don't think we should mess with him Ino," Choji chipped in.

She gave her all in one last attempt at stabbing you, but as she tried to charge at you, her right foot refused to follow. Behind her, Shikamaru had grabbed her with his shadow. It was far from what he'd be able to do in a few years, but one limb was probably impressive for his age.

Behind them, Uchiha Fagaku appeared walking towards you. "What is going on here kids?" he asked.

"We're going to make Sota here admit that he attacked Sasuke and laid the blame on Shin," Ino answered while trying to free her self from Shikamaru's grip. But as she failed, she decided to just throw the kunai at you, a throw you easily dodged.

"I believe in his innocence. Could you follow me for a bit Uzumaki?" Fugaku asked. "And Yamanaka, I will tell your father about this."

"Are you going to lure him away and kill him where no one can see you?" Ino asked.

He just shook his head and began to walk away and you followed him into an alleyway.

"I want to talk to you about Sasuke, there is one thing our investigation didn't make clear and I hope you could help me figure it out," Fugaku said.

You nodded anxiously.

"Where did Shin get his explosive tags? The academy doesn't hand out that to anyone his age, and nothing was reported stolen. Which brings me to you," he said and pointed at you.

You had to get away from there. It was all a trick. You turned and around and tried to run away, but his firm grasp on your shoulder stopped you.

"If you want to appear innocent. You shouldn't run away," he said.

You grabbed your sword and pointed it at Fugaku. Your hand was shaking.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "And do I need to tell you that threatening the police chief is a crime?"

"I don't trust you," you said with a shaking voice and took a step backwards.

"I just want to know what happened to my son!" Fugaku voice was strained.

"I didn't know what Shin wanted the tags for, I didn't think to ask. He wanted something that wouldn't cause too much damage, so I made some for him," you were shaking more and more but you kept your sword aimed in the direction of him.

"So he was purposefully making sure that Sasuke wouldn't get too hurt?" He asked.

You stayed silent. It seemed like a rhetorical question and if not, there was no good answer there anyway.

"Is Danzo involved in this?" He asked.

"I don't know. Unless Itachi has done something wrong," you said, hoping that your answers wouldn't trigger the seal. The mysterious seal that seemed to live its own life.

"I will talk to Itachi myself, I won't tell anyone about your involvement. The other evidence against you is clearly fabricated as there was too much hair on the crime scene for it to not be planted. He should be ashamed of himself doing such sloppy work. And since he's gone, there is nothing more we can do than to close the case," Fagaku said and turned his back to you and walked away. Not at all worried by your sword. To be fair, it wasn't like you were stupid enough to actually attack.

"One more thing," he said and turned back around. "You're welcomed back for dinner again when Sasuke is out from the hospital," he said and left.

It was time for you to go home. It would be good to get some sleep. But as you unlocked your door, you saw a note on your table.

'Come back down'

There was no name, but it was clear who it was from. Couldn't you get a break from that bastard for one night?

-x-

When you got back in your underground room, you were greeted by Danzo and one of his medic-nin. They hinted for you to sit down on your bed and with a touch to your head you began to feel weaker, you could probably push against it, but there was no point.

Your vision went to black before you quickly wake up again. "Your leg has grown fine, I've replaced your old prosthetic leg with a new one now that you've your knee back," the Root medic told you.

"Now that you're able to move properly, I want to retest your abilities in about a week. You are allowed kunai, your sword and any defensive seals. Your opponent will not be told about your tricks so you have a chance to surprise them," Danzo said.

"No, I don't want to do this again," you said. "You can't make me."

"You know very well that I can," he said and tapped his cane on your head.

"I can live with my foot like it is, getting back my knee gives me the mobility I need to function as a ninja," you argued.

"The fight will start in a week no matter if you're ready or not," Danzo said and left.

-x-

Later that week Itachi came knocking on your door. "Sasuke is out of the hospital now, so I'm here to get you, Father invited you for dinner remember?"

"I don't want to intrude," you said.

"Mother will come and get you yourself if I come empty-handed, so let us spare her the time?"

"Alright," you said and put on your shoes before following him to the Uchiha district.

"It's good to be out of the hospital, the air isn't exactly right there," Itachi said.

"Wasn't it Sasuke and not you that was hospitalized?" You asked.

"Do you think I let my brother be alone in the hospital?" Itachi asked. "We've made up again, he's back to being my cute lil brother. A week ago he didn't even want to see me, and during his stay, he was anxious when I just went to the toilet."

"So there came something good out of what Shin did?" You asked.

"You can say that. I just hope it won't have any long-lasting effects on him," he said.

"Sasuke is strong, so he should be fine. He hasn't unlocked his Sharingan right?" You asked.

"No, should he?" he asked.

"No, but keep a look for it and maybe ask, just to be sure."

"Sota, is there something you're not telling me?" Itachi asked.

"No."

When you reached the gate, the Uchiha guards made no fuss and just let you pass.

"I'm glad father is letting you back in," Itachi said.

You nodded back and in not too long, you arrived at his house.

"Welcome Sota, the dinner is ready in a minute, so just sit down you two," you could hear Mikoto from the kitchen.

"Thanks, nice to see you again," you called back.

Sasuke was glaring at you as you approached the dinner table. He was still full of bandages, but other than that he seemed fine.

"Hi Sasuke, are you okay?" You asked him.

"Why are you here bastard?" He asked you.

"Language Sasuke, and don't be rude to our guest," Fagaku told him.

"I don't want him here," he said.

"Life isn't always about what you want Sasuke," his father told him.

"Life is never about I want," Sasuke pouted.

"I'm giving you one more warning Sasuke," he threatened.

It seemed to be shutting up Sasuke who turned his gaze away from you.

If you had known it would become this uncomfortable, you would never have come here no matter Itachi's threats. And just as you needed a distraction, Mikoto came in with the food.

When everything was ready and she had sat down, Fugaku stood up.

"I want to say a few words before we eat," he said and cleared his voice. "Every Uchiha should strive for perfection, but lately I've come to realize that I've steered far from the course.

"I've failed as a father to protect my family." He looked at Sasuke. "and distrusted those closest to me," looked at Itachi, "I've failed as a leader for our clan. When this village was founded we built bridges. But now all we're doing is widening the rift that started with Madara. If we don't reach out to the village, it will be the end of us, even if that means concessions in the short term that might hurt our pride."

Did Itachi tell Fugaku about the massacre? You turned towards him, but his face gave nothing away.

"I don't think we ever apologized for what Sasuke did to you Uzumaki," he said.

"It's fine, nothing to worry about, I bear no grudges," you replied. It was better to just get over with it.

"I think we should eat now," Mikoto said.

"Very well," Fugaku said and you all greeted the food before eating.

-x-

After you had eaten, Itachi asked you to follow him out. You walked together to the lake and sat down by the water and began skipping stones. It was good to get out of the house.

"So how was the mission with Shisui, I heard it didn't go so well?" Itachi asked and skipped a stone of his own.

"Crow was a dick, I ruined the livelihood of an entire village. But it wasn't all bad. Shisui started to teach me the body flicker and I finally got to tell him everything I know," you explained and looked for another flat stone to throw.

"Umm… Shisui told me that he never got any chance to talk to you in private, that the Root guy was watching over you two at all time," Itachi said and looked at you.

"I heard him speak, I saw Crow sleeping...No... It all makes sense now. He planned it from the beginning. That was why he made sure he and Shisui were dressed up the same all the time. How he was so vague when pretending to be Shisui, he was fishing for information and I gave it all away. How could I be so stupid." you said threw your rock straight into the water.

"Sota, you're not stupid. That Root ninja knew that he was doing. It's like with combat, no one expects that you should be able to beat someone with a lot more fighting experience than you. So why expect that you should be able to deal with someone with a lot more experience with manipulation than you?" Itachi asked.

"But," you tried to get in.

"No buts," Itachi said.

"So what now? Have we fixed it? Your father seems to want to make peace," you said.

"I hope so, but we need to be careful, my father still needs to convince the rest of the clan and Danzo might cause new issues reopening the rift," Itachi said.

"I don't think I would be of much use anymore, I've already exposed way too much to Danzo, and I'm not sure how well I'm able to keep any secrets when he is hitting me of that cane of his. I trust that you, Shisui and your father will be able to create lasting peace from now on. Just one thing, don't trust anyone calling themselves Uchiha Madara, warn your father about him if you think it's the best path forward. He's a fake and is responsible for what happened seven years ago," you said.

There was something else you needed to get done before you forgot, so you took a piece of paper from your bag and wrote a short message on it.

'If we fail, destroy the Naka shrine before anyone else can access it. Don't tell Itachi about this unless you're dying.'

You folded it up several times so it wouldn't open.

"Give this to Shisui, and do not look at it yourself," you said and handed the folded up paper to him.

Itachi accepted it with care. "Shouldn't you give it directly to Shisui if it's important?" He asked.

"Danzo is giving me more and more trouble lately. Who knows maybe next time I go down there he won't let me out again. And I don't want to forget about it. I know I can trust you, so I don't have anything to worry about right?" You smiled at him.

"Why are you keeping secrets from me?" He asked.

"You've already made the mistake once before in the future, I want to make sure you won't do it again," you said.

Without the shrine, the Uchiha secrets would be lost and couldn't be used to corrupt Sasuke and Itachi. It would be better to destroy it right away, but the Uchiha would probably not take lightly to Shisui smashing it into pieces.

"I don't know how I feel about you knowing my future," Itachi said.

"Don't worry, when we change it I will know as much as you do. I can only see one reality with varying amount of accuracy, not any of the branches stemming from any new decision taken. And don't try to fight fake Madara, he's too strong. He can turn himself intangible, cheat death and enter his own pocket dimension."

"Now I'm curious about what you know about me that you won't tell me," he said.

"Don't worry, I don't know much," you said and skipped another stone.

"I think I should go back to Sasuke now, I don't want him to get mad at me for spending too much time with you again," he said and hugged you. "Stay safe, Sota."

The way home was peaceful and you took the chance to really look around you in the Uchiha district.

People were living peacefully, children were running around and some were practising their kunai-throwing with a variable amount of success.

You hoped that destiny was beaten and that blood wouldn't be flowing here again.

No one here was accusing you of attacking one of them either, he had managed to keep that down and you faced no other problems on your way home.

-x-

A week later, you were finally ready for Danzo's challenge. Your seals could defend you against swords, kunai and shuriken just to be on the safe side. You just had to repeat the tactic from the last time to win.

"Are you Crow?" you asked the Root agent standing there in the arena.

"It is not nice to eavesdrop, Sota," he said.

As soon as you got the signal to start from Danzo, you ran towards Crow, he put the sword in front of him to put some distance between you, but that didn't matter at all this time. All you needed to do was to cut him, and he should be aware that you were willing to risk getting stabbed to win by now.

But as you reached him, he sidestepped and struck his sword into your back without any hesitation. But there was no stinging pain, just the feeling of the cloth hitting your back.

Crow made no response to his sword disappearing out of his hands.

How the turntables, it was time for you to be on the offensive. You turned around to face him again and used the body flicker to close the distance. You kept your sword aimed at him and slashed as you got close. But he was too fast and jumped backwards before throwing a volley of kunai at you. But they all disappeared one after another. While he didn't say anything, his body language made it clear that he did not see any of this coming.

It was time to become stupidly cocky. "Is that the best you've got Crow? I thought you liked to stab me!" you yelled and ran at him again using the body flicker at the last moment to catch him. But again he jumped, but this time he kicked you in the head causing you to fall and hit your head hard at the ground. Everything was moving around. Another kick hit your sides and you were thrown to the wall. Then another.

"Please stop," you begged.

"You're not so tough after all," he said and kicked your ribs again.

"Defend yourself!" You could hear Danzo yell at you.

And another hard kick straight in your stomach.

"Please," you cried out. The pain was getting worse and worse and you did not manage to move any.

And another.

"P…", you never got far as he made contact with your head.

By the next kick, a blue cloud formed around you and Crow winced.

"Thank you, thank you," you muttered. Matatabi had finally come to the rescue.

"We'll end it here, Crow please leave," Danzo said.

Through the blue fog, you could see Danzo walking towards you. But he wasn't doing anything to you. He was just waiting to see what you and Matatabi were doing. Was he for once going to do something nice and have her heal you before shutting off her chakra?

Your head got slowly better and your vision sharper again. But still horrible pain in your abdomen. You were coughing up a bit of blood. He must have caused some serious injuries with his kicks.

Minutes passed by till the pain was gone and Matatabi retracted back into your body. You still felt awful, but your body was fine. You got up again.

"What a pathetic performance, you failed harder than last time," Danzo said.

"I thought I did well," you replied.

"Did you accomplish the task?" He asked.

"No."

"So why do you think you did well?" He asked.

"I defended myself against his sword and didn't get stabbed like last time."

"Getting stabbed allowed you to win last time, but instead you took away all his weapons giving him no choice but to fight unarmed, something you were unable to counter," Danzo explained. "I've trained babies with greater tactical prowess than you."

"I don't care what you say, I think I did well. You cannot expect me to win against someone several times my size at hand to hand combat."

"I'll arrange for a rematch in about two weeks, please be better prepared by then. But I can see what you're saying. I'll allow you to use any offensive seal too, but I will not allow you to use the two-tails' chakra. It is the last resort, not something the village want to flaunt."

Bastard! Nothing was good enough for him and next time Crow would be even more prepared against you. There was no chance in hell that you could win. Getting better than him in just two weeks was impossible and you were not allowed the help from Matatabi? So what the hell could you do?

It was a problem for tomorrow. You had no time to lose, but today you didn't want to think more about it.

-x-

Another day of team training was in session and you were yawning while Raidou began talking about the plans for the day.

"I'm boring you Sota?" Sensei asked.

"No, I'm just having trouble sleeping lately," you said and yawned again. Danzo's constant meddling, the night attacks and everything just made sleeping quite hard.

"Try to go for a run before bed, you'll sleep better if when you're tired," He suggested. That was pointless, you're body was a Duracell bunny that never got tired.

You nodded approvingly anyway.

"Alright, the plan for today's exercise. I've seen you carry around that bow Sota, but I've never seen you use it. So I've devised an exercise to help remedy it," he said and walked the three of you to the edge of the training ground close to some bushes and other vegetation.

"Kabuto, Torune, you'll be trying to sneak, run, or whatever you feel for back and forth here without getting hit, and you're going to try to hit them with your bow Sota," he explained.

"Hit them?" You asked. "I don't want to hurt them, I'm not saying I will hit, but getting hit by arrows isn't something you should take lightly."

"Don't worry about that," Raidou said threw a quiver to you. "Catch."

You grabbed it with ease and looked at it. "They look different than normal arrows."

"It's training arrows, they won't cause any injury if you hit Torune or Kabuto," he said and grabbed an arrow from your quiver.

"The tip is soft and the shaft will break under too much pressure," he pressed the arrowhead to demonstrate and it easily deformed. "So don't be worried about hurting anyone."

"Are you sure about this? I've not had much practise with the bow," you said.

"Believe in yourself Sota," Kabuto said and patted you on the shoulder, you quickly jerked away in response.

"Can't we start with something easier?" You asked.

"That will just be a waste of time, you didn't become a prodigy by taking the slow route did you?" Raidou asked.

You responded with a sigh. Your classmates wouldn't graduate for many years, you had time, Raidou didn't have to treat every activity as if you would excel at it as some super kid.

"Alright," you said and got into position.

Shooting at anything that moved was of no use. You had to hit where they would be going, which was easier said than done. With enough tries, you were bound to hit one of them in the end, but so far your quiver was getting more and more empty without much to show for.

Your focus, for now, was to hit Torune, ignoring everything that looked like Kabuto in the leaves as he was much faster and less predictable.

You got a glimpse of his black clothes and aimed a bit to the right, you had done this enough times that you were sure you got it now.

The arrow flew through the air, through the leaves and hit.

"Good work Sota," Raidou said behind you.

"Thanks, I guess I have to hit Kabuto too before you're happy?" You asked.

"No, you won't hit him, he's too good for you. To get good at this, you need a lot of experience to make your eyes and brain get used to the fast movement," he said.

He turned towards the woods and called out. "Torune and Kabuto come back!"

"This is an exercise best suited for an Uchiha or Hyuuga. What's important is that you get a feel for it so it's not new when you're doing it on a mission," he explained.

Your two other teammates quickly arrived.

"Kabuto, did you manage to keep a meters distance from his arrows?" Raidou asked.

"Not always," Kabuto replied.

"And that's why it can still be effective even if you cannot hit your opponent, imagine if your arrows exploded. Any low-level attacker will probably flee if you get close enough. I will try to fetch us an easy C-rank escort mission when your leg has gotten better. I want you to make some explosive arrows till then and maybe get in some practice on your own. Sounds good?" He asked.

You nodded and saw something crawling inside Kabuto's sleeves.

"What's that?" You asked and pointed to his arm?

"Oh, this?" He said and dragged out a small snake that was curling around his hand. "I found him while in the trees. He's not dangerous, the venom is quite useful for medicine."

It reminded you of the Orochimaru style of snake Jutsu. Could you even be sure he found it and didn't just conjure it up as he was bored?

"Torune, did you see any snakes?" You asked him.

"Uhh, no," he replied.

"What is this about?" Raidou asked.

"I don't want to say it while he's listening," you said.

Raidou sighed. "Can you whisper it to me?" He asked.

"Alright, but have him turn around," you said.

Kabuto took the hint and Raidou got down on his knees and you whispered to him. "I think he's working for Orochimaru. His love of snakes and his refusal to graduate points to that. I think he keeps retaking the exams so he can gather intelligence on the different genin of Konoha and our allies."

"Sota, I'm disappointed with you. I don't get why you dislike Kabuto and you've been acting strange around him from day one. And now you're accusing him of being a spy for that traitor, just because he likes snakes? I will bring this further up, not that he's a spy, but that you're throwing baseless accusations against your teammate. I ask you to go home for the day, you've no place here if you cannot respect your teammates," Raidou said.

"But," you tried saying.

"I don't want to hear any more from you today. A team only work if everyone can trust each other. You don't trust Kabuto and I'm not sure if I can trust you do not injure him. So I want you to take some days reflecting over things. I will come to get you when you're welcomed back" he said.

There was no other choice for you, Uzumaki Cassandra Sota, than to go home. You weren't completely sure about it, but with everything that was at stake, distrusting him was a much better bet than not. The only other thing you were wrong about it was Hisashi's death. That had to be the key to this puzzle. You had to figure out if anything was connecting you as a Jinchuuriki for Konoha, his lack of death, and Kabuto.

Matatabi once belonged to Kumo, it was Kumo that demanded Hizashi's head and got Hisashi's. Something could connect those two events. So if you worked by the assumption that there was just one change in the past that lead to this point in time, you'd several options. Either Kabuto had to be a spy; Somehow Konoha's way of handling the Hyuuga incident this time changed the way Orochimaru left the village; Or made Danzo never demand Kabuto from the orphanage.

You could try to fish some information out of Danzo. You could ask him if Kabuto was ever spying for him, as that later caused him to be found by Orochimaru. But you had no idea if he would be telling the truth, and he should logically not know that Kabuto was a spy. As not even his alliance with Orochimaru would cause him to allow an Orochimaru spy in Konoha, or would he?

-x-

It was finally the day. You would not let yourself get beaten by Crow again. You had just the plan ready to defeat that bastard. The hours spent studying down here the last weeks was not a waste.

Hundred explosive kunai and many more seals to defend against said explosives. Just in case he somehow countered your attack by using some of his own to overload your defences.

You threw some at him and he dutifully dodged clear of any potential explosion. But that didn't matter, none of them would explode till you activated them. So you kept moving around to avoid getting kicked again and throw kunai all around you. Till there were nowhere in the room you could stand without getting hurt.

"Give up Crow, you've lost. Cut yourself so I can win!" You called out, with your snake seal ready.

"I don't think so. If you make one explode all the rest of them will explode too. You're hoist by your own petard. Why do you think I manipulated you into moving into your explosive tags?" He asked.

As Crow seemed to be moving towards you, you pushed chakra through your fingers activating all the explosives. The room was shaking, dust was everywhere and you fell to the ground.

You squinted with your eyes and held your sword in front of you, ready for him to attack you. But he was hopefully in a weaken state so you could defeat him. As you couldn't see any movement, you got up and moved closer to the where you last saw him. As the dust settled, you could see him laying on the floor lifeless full of blood.

"No, no, no," you muttered, you didn't intend to kill him. You only intended for him to give up, or that he had something up his sleeve since he refused to give up.

You had to take a better look. You got down and crawled over him keeping your sword ready just in case he was still alive. You put two fingers on his neck but there was nothing. You couldn't feel a thing.

His mask was cracked, you reached for it, wanting to see who he was, but as your fingers got closer and closer, you got pushed back by Danzo's cane.

"That's enough," Danzo said. He had sadly found a way to defend himself, he knew this was coming so it wasn't surprising.

"Why did you make me kill him?" You asked.

"I didn't, it was all you," Danzo replied. "The only one with blood on their hands in here is you."

You took a look and them and they were soaked red.

"No, no. I'm not a murderer," you said as you continued to look at your bloody hands. "I had no other choice. It's all your fault "

"How do you feel?" Danzo asked.

"I… feel… like… a... monster…" You took deep breaths between each word, tears beginning to drip onto your hands.

Danzo hit you in the head with his cane.

"Why do you feel bad for Crow? He stabbed you, threatened your friends, threatened you, took pleasure in hurting you. You should take pleasure in killing him," Danzo argued.

"No, I'm not like that," you said and shook your head.

The cane hit you again.

"Some say that a ninja shouldn't cry, they are fools. It matters little how one express oneself, a ninja shouldn't be sad. Laugh!," Danzo ordered.

"What?" You exclaimed.

Another hit to the face.

"I can't, I can force myself to laugh. If you weren't such an emotionless bastard you would have known."

Danzo kicked you in the side making you fall over and hitting your head into the floor. You started getting a bit dizzy.

He wasn't going to take a no for an answer. What could you do? What could make you laugh? Itachi acting like a cat after Shisui's ability misfired?

You started to laugh, it wasn't a good thing to do over someone's dead body. But it somehow lightened the mood. as Crow was dragged away till you got to your senses again.

"That feels better doesn't it?" Danzo asked.

"No," you denied.

"How do you plan to protect your friends if you cannot even kill your enemies without breaking down?" He asked.

"Crow wasn't my enemy!" You yelled out. "We're both Konoha-nin."

"What makes someone your enemy?" He asked.

"I..," how were you supposed to answer that. "Someone who believes in different values than me. No… that's not right either."

"There are much worse people out there than Crow. Are you going to cry for them too? Are you going to give their allies the chance to take revenge on you? Or are you going to laugh in their face and make them feel terror as you chase after them, making sure Konoha and everyone you know is safe?"

"I can respect my fallen enemies and still protect my friends," you said. It was what Naruto did all the time.

"Your enemies want you and everyone you know dead, so why allow them to continue to live? Either you go after them with no mercy, or the people you actually care about will get killed."

"No!" You shouted. You were not a murderer.

"Why did you become a ninja? Why were you so eager to graduate?" Danzo asked.

"The academy was boring, I wanted to get stronger, and I wanted to protect my friends," you said. Protecting them by informing them about the massacre and working to prevent it.

"Why bother getting strong if you don't want to use it?" He asked.

"So I can fight back when there is no other choice," you argued.

"Wouldn't it be better to defeat your enemies before that?" He asked. "Remove the problem while it is still manageable?"

You were tired of his stupid non-sense and said something you should have perhaps not said. "Just as you did with Akatsuki? Killing Yahiko and turning Akatsuki into a much more dangerous organization?!".

"You!" Danzo had no words, he just smacked his cane into your temple and you fell to the side, losing consciousness.

-x-

Your head was dizzy, where were you? The hard dirt floor in Danzo's arena was gone and wet grass was brushing your face.

Had he thrown you out? It didn't matter, you didn't want to go back there anyway. You didn't recognize where you were, partly because it was dark, and partly because Danzo wasn't stupid enough to leave you knocked out right outside one of his secret entrances. How long had you been out?

You could see the street light and people were still walking about, so it couldn't be too late but at the same time, you had probably laid there for some time and you were a bit cold.

There was something in your hand, you could recognize the wrapped fabric handle from your sword. Where did that come from? You hadn't used it against Crow, so why? You tried putting it away, but your sheath was gone. Had something happened while you were out that you couldn't remember? Not that it mattered, you could just hold onto it, carrying a sword around in a ninja village wasn't that strange.

As you walked back home you through the streets noticed many ugly looks in your direction with people moving away from you. Did the sword have a bigger effect on them than you imagined?

You then saw Naruto running towards you. "Hi Sota," he said with a smile. "Who did you prank?"

"Huh?"

"You're full of red paint," he sniffed into the air. His eyes got more serious and walked close and dragged a finger along your shirt. He looked at his bloody finger with wide eyes. "What did you…," he didn't finish his question, his eyes had wandered towards your sword along with yours. It was covered in blood. What? Where did that come from?

"Naruto, I..," you wasn't sure what to say, because you definitely could not explain.

But he wouldn't listen, it was futile, he just walked backwards a few step before he took off running.

"Naruto, please stop," you yelled after him, but he didn't stop.

You began to pick up your speed and ran to your apartment. You needed to get clean, get rid of all the blood before even more people saw you.

You quickly unlocked the lock, opened the door and lock shut behind you as fast as you entered.

You didn't like what you saw in the mirror. Blood splatter along with sot on your face and your shirt was covered in blood. You had forgotten about the blood from Crow.

You smashed the mirror. You couldn't stand looking at your eyes, it was like someone inside the mirror was judging you.

You threw off your clothes and hurried into the shower. You scrubbed yourself clean as hard as you could, making sure there was nothing stuck under your fingernails and nothing hiding in your red hair.

You picked up one of the shards of glass that was on the floor to see if you had gotten rid of all the blood, it seemed like you were fine. It was late, you were tired and stressed out, you got into your PJ and served yourself a large bowl of cereal before going to bed. You had to sleep this off and forget about everything that had happened today. And maybe, maybe you could wake up tomorrow and find out that nothing was true, that the stress from Danzo just made you imagine things.

-x-

You were still a bit groggy when you wake up. But you weren't in your bed. Cold air was striking your face and your blanket and bed were gone. Instead, you were sitting on something a bit hard and a bit soft while grabbing onto something. Opening your eyes, you saw a man under you, wearing a Suna headband. You were grasping onto a kunai that was stuck into his chest.

"No, no, no," you said and got off the dead man. This had to be a dream. It couldn't be real. You couldn't have sleep-killed someone. Looking at his uniform, he was clearly Suna ANBU, it just couldn't be real.

You heard laughter around you, your own childish laugher. Cold went down your spine as another mop of red hair appeared to your side. Small bloody fingers started to poke your cheeks.

"Why are you not laughing?" He asked in your voice.

"I don't want to!" You called out and tried dispelling your clone. Where did he come from? You were unable to make new clones after you got your prosthetic leg. Your clone didn't copy your injuries either and here you could see his artificial leg peek out of his PJ. So it just had to be a dream, he was impossible otherwise.

"Danzo will hit us again if you don't," he said and grimaced before he walked around you and got into your face with a big smile. "And it will make us feel better."

"No," you said and tried pushed him away, but he quickly dodged. Before you could do something, he rolled you over and started to tickle you. You were at his mercy and you couldn't do anything but laugh.

"Ha, ha, please stop it," you plead.

"It's making you better right?" He asked while continuing his assault.

"Yeah," you said between laughing and breathing. Anything to make the tickle demon stop.

"Don't make me remind you next time," he said and finally let go of the tickling.

"Thanks," you said.

"He deserved it you know," he said and started wandering around. "Remember when they tried to kill us in Suna? He's the guy that attacked us and made us lose our leg and almost killed us. What's wrong with taking pleasure in killing someone who tried to kill you?" He asked and stabbed the air as if he was holding a kunai.

"I don't know. Being obsessed with revenge is wrong," you said.

"But we didn't obsess over it. You saw him and took the opportunity. Revenge is only bad when it envelops everything you do. Check his pockets," your double ordered and pointed to his dead body.

"Why?" You asked.

"Maybe he was sloppy and kept his mission information on him," he said. "If there is more of them, we need to know what they're doing."

You crawled up to the dead body and search both his left and right side. Your double was right, you found a scroll tied to his pants.

As you rolled it open it, being careful you didn't ruin it with your bloody fingers, you saw an image of yourself along with an order to kill you.

You dropped it to the ground, but your double was quick to pick it up.

"Be careful, it is evidence. If Suna complains about you killing one of your their ninja, you need proof that they were planning to kill you, or else they will have your head," he said and rolled up the scroll and put it in your pocket.

"None of this matters, none of this is real. He's not dead, I'm just imagining stuff," you said and moved away from the corpse.

"Reality doesn't change by you denying it," he said.

"You make no sense, who are you?"

"I'm you, or one part of you. You're under duress, so your body has created an optimistic positive clone that can help you cope with everything," he explained.

It made no sense, the body couldn't do that.

"Since Suna is out to kill us, and they've shown that they're able to infiltrate the village, I don't think it is safe for us to stay in our apartment. We should stay down with Danzo, we're safe there and the guards will stop us if we start to sleepwalk again," he suggested.

"No, I don't want to be so close to Danzo all the time. This isn't real anyway, and if it is, we just warn people that Suna is trying to kill me, they will find his body, the village will protect me." As you said that, a flaring sound could be heard and a bright light came from the corpse as it was burning up in front of you. Leaving only a bit of ash left.

"Seem like we were unlucky there," he said. "But who will protect you? Our Sensei? He doesn't seem to like us. We cannot trust the Hokage. The ANBU let this happen. The only one we can trust is Danzo."

"No, we cannot trust Danzo," you argued.

"Why not? Everything will be better if you stop letting your emotional and irrational side guide you."

"How can we trust him after every trial he has thrown at us?" You asked.

"He only does that because we're being stubborn and disobedient. You know what he's saying is right. We demand and demand things from him but gives nothing back. Everything would be better if we join Root for real."

"No! I will not join Root!" You yelled out. You had completely forgotten that there were other people in the world than you for the moment.

"Why not? We're becoming more and more distrusted in the village. Our old classmates think we were responsibly for attacking Sasuke. Torune's father already thinks we're in Root and have made everyone else distrust us with him. Kabuto can not be trusted. And Raidou won't listen to us. Who is there left for us out here?"

"Itachi, Shisui, and Naruto," you said.

"How often do we spend time with Itachi and Shisui these days? And they only have interest in us because of the information we hold. When they've made peace with the village, they'll abandon us and stick with friends their own age. And we don't spend much time with Naruto either, and now that he's seen you all bloody, I don't' think that would change."

"You're lying!"

"Maybe I'm wrong about Itachi and Shisui. But will you ask Naruto if he wants to hang out with you tomorrow, only to see him run away and scream?"

"Uh, no," you said.

"There you see. We're getting more and more like outcasts. But if we join Root, we can make new friends there," he said.

"Friends Danzo will make us kill because he thinks killing your friends make you stronger. He must have drunken from the same water as the Uchiha," you explained.

"Why do you think he would do that?" The other you asked.

"Sai and Shin, not Yamanaka Shin, another one. It is probably not even their real names. At the end of their training, he will make them fight to their death to remove all emotions because he believes emotions make you weak. Root is messed up. If you're the optimistic positive one now, I'm the realistic one. I've not scratched the surface of what messed up bullshit Danzo can throw at me," you told them.

"What if you make an offer to him? He makes sure both of them lives and you join Root? You gain friends and save them," he suggested.

"You don't do bargains with Danzo," you said.

"It's not really bargaining with him. We give him something he wants and in return, he promises to not make you kill your friends. Inside Root, you can also do more to stop the massacre. It doesn't help if the Uchiha makes peace if Danzo refuses to accept it. We need someone on the inside, and that will be us."

"Danzo knows I'm onto him, he's not stupid. He'll use it to control me even more. I will have fewer opportunities to stop things, and it will cut my contact with Itachi and Shisui. I don't want to help them, just lose them another way," you said.

"Isn't that a bit selfish? You would rather let your friends die than to help them if you can't see them?" He asked.

"I don't mean it that way. It's a stupid path to go down when it wouldn't solve anything, it would just sever my bonds when a better path is possible. Where I can keep my friends and my friendships. You're not me. You're just some Danzo goon who pretends to be a split part of me to make me reveal information and I've already said to much," you said and charged the fake you and shoved him into a tree.

He winced in pain as he hit his head. "What are you doing?!"

You grabbed the kunai that was lying on the ground and lunged at your fake's neck.

He grabbed your wrist with his right hand and punched you in the head with his left.

You lost focus for a second, allowing the fake to get in a kick making you fall back, while he ran up the tree like a coward.

"Stop it, this isn't you Sota," the fake plead.

"It's you that isn't me," you yelled while tracking them with your eyes as they were climbing the branches.

"You're making Danzo get to your head," he yelled back.

"I'm tired of you playing mind games with me," you yelled to your fake and ran up the trunk and moved towards him, kunai first.

He just stood there at the end of the branch while you got close and closer, all while laughing the way Danzo had told you to. "This is what you wanted right Danzo?" You asked.

"Please, I'm not Danzo, I'm you," he begged.

That was enough tricks, you drove the knife into him, or at least you tried. Moments later you felt a tug on your ankle and you were dragged off the branch, hitting the ground back first, with the fake landing on top of you.

In the process, you lost the grip of the kunai the fake was quick to grab it. But instead of using it, he threw it away before holding you down by your wrists.

"Enough now!" He said. He was crying now.

His tears were dripping onto you.

"You're not tricking me Danzo!" You yelled out and headbutted him. It hurt a lot, but you managed to get him to lose his grip. You took the chance to roll you around and went for his neck. He tried to push your arms away, but you got him now. He hit hard, but you were a ninja, you could handle this.

You started to feel short of breath along with him, and the grip around his neck was weakening, so you leveraged more of your body weight on top of him.

"Die... Root... scum…," you said between each attempt to take a breath.

He tried pushing you away, but he was way too weak. He was getting blue in the face, you had gotten him now. Maybe that would make Danzo lay off you.

Dark spots started to appear in your vision and your fake was barely moving. But then your body gave completely up, you fell on your fake and your vision got completely black.

What had you done?

You woke up by someone knocking on your door. That couldn't be good, right? It was probably Danzo again, back to mess with you even more.

You had to prepare for that bastard, so you looked for your sword. But didn't you drop it? It didn't matter, you should still have Crow's sword in one of your seals. It didn't take long for you to locate the seal and eject the sword, all while the knocking continued outside.

You slowly walked towards the door with the sword in hand.

The knocking outside kept on going. "Sota, open up please," it was Raidou's voice, but you doubted it was really him. The real Raidou was probably still mad at you for calling out Kabuto as a spy.

You unlocked the door and grabbed onto the katana with both your hands, ready to strike at the bastard pretending to be your sensei.

You put a grin on your face as the door handle went down and the door opened.

"Die Danzo!" you yelled and slashed your sword downwards towards your target.

The fake Raidou quickly grabbed his own sword and blocked your attack.

"Sota, stop, I'm not Danzo," he said.

That was exactly what a fake would say. You withdrew your sword and tried thrusting it into him again. His height should make it hard to deflect such a low blow.

Fake Raidou side-stepped your attack and kicked your in the stomach, pushing you backwards.

"I'm sorry Sota, but you need to snap out of it," he said and rushed to your side, and put his hand on your forehead. A spike of chakra hit you, and when you looked back at him, any idea that this was Danzo was gone.

"What happened?" You asked and clutched your stomach, "It hurts."

He laid a glowing hand our abdomen and began to explain. "Genjutsu. Why are you all bloody?"

You turned around and looked into the mirror behind you. In it, you saw your red hands, large splatters of blood on your PJ and bloody fingers marks on your face caused by your double. Wait, wasn't that just a dream and didn't you smash the mirror yesterday? You looked around you and there were no glass shards anywhere.

What was real, what was fake?

You clutched your head and curled up on the floor. "You're not real, none of this is real, this is just another dream," you mumbled to yourself.

"You're not dreaming Sota, you're awake," Raidou tried telling you.

You shook your head in denial. "I'm still sleeping, I'm still dreaming."

"Stay here Sota, I'm going to get help," he said and ran out.

How to wake up? All this was layers after layers of nightmares. Just unfolding like reverse inception.

The pain in the stomach was going away, this was just a dream, so of course it was going away. If you just kept sitting still, then maybe nothing more bad would happen in this dream.

A bit later, two sets of footsteps entered the room.

"I tried dispelling the genjutsu, but it only worked partially," Raidou explained.

"Let me take a look at him," you could hear someone say and put a hand on your forehead. It reminded you of Inochi.

You felt his chakra invading your head.

"Everything is fine here. There is no sign of any interference, neither from any jutsu, nor from the cat," Inochi said.

"So what you're saying is..?" Raidou asked.

"Yes, no one is messing with his head, or at least not directly," Raidou said and another wave of chakra entered your head. "This is not a dream Sota, you're awake."

"I know," you said. Why would they tell you that? You had just woken up from your dreams, so of course you were awake.

"Good. Raidou, make sure he doesn't experience any pain till he goes to bed tonight," Inochi said.

"Why?" You asked. It wasn't his job to make sure you got hurt. Getting hurt was a normal part of ninja training.

"Nothing Sota. Raidou, do you mind if you step out a bit and make sure no one eavesdrops on us?" Inochi asked. "And that includes you."

"No problem Inochi," Raidou said and left your apartment.

"So what's wrong?" You asked.

"Shin talked to you before he left, right?" Inochi asked.

You nodded.

"And did you tell you what was going on?"

"Yes," you said.

"And?" He asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone," you said.

Inochi let out a big sigh."If you're going to hide something, lie better, you're giving it all away by saying you're not supposed to tell anyone. All I need to do to get to the truth is to poke and probe till you give up your secrets," he said before stopping himself. "Sorry about that tangent. I know that he did what he did because he was ordered to. So now that I've shown that I know, can you confirm to me that you know?"

"Yes, he did it to have a cover story as a spy," you said.

He nodded. "I apologize for what happened, you getting framed like that wasn't supposed to happen, it was not part of the plan."

"Fugaku was able to piece together that I was framed very easily, as whoever was behind it did a bad job planting evidence," you said.

"I hope you won't take out your anger on Ino, I'm sorry that she attacked you. Rest assure she did get punished for it."

"Thanks," you muttered back.

"I'll have to go now," he said and left your apartment.

From outside you could hear him talk to Raidou. "I'll be in my store if you need me."

Raidou went back into your apartment and closed the door. "Now that he's gone, can you explain why your clothes and face are bloody, I can see it doesn't come from you?" He asked.

"I don't know, I had a dream or maybe not a dream. I can't tell if any of it is real or not. Did I kill someone?"

"I don't know. I'll keep an ear open. If the police find something, I will have to be honest with them and tell them that you might be responsible, you understand that right?"

You nodded. He was no Danzo who seemed to be willing to cover for you no matter what.

"Wait," you exclaimed, there was one way to figure out if tonight's events were real. The scroll in your pocked.

You checked your left pocket, nothing there. So maybe some hope. But as you reached into your right, you were not so lucky.

Maybe it was something completely different? But as you unrolled it you saw the same thing The same assassination order with your image from last night.

You dropped the scroll and took a few steps backwards. "No... no.. no., there really was an assassin after me, and I killed them," you mumbled.

Raidou picked up the scroll and looked at it. "This is fake. No assassin would bring something like this on their mission. They'd memorize your appearance by heart and they wouldn't need this to recognize the only red-haired ninja your height."

"Why did you come here today?" You asked.

"I'm your sensei, I felt you'd learnt a lesson and I decided to check up on you. I'm just glad it was me that knocked on your door, had it been Naruto this could have been quite ugly," Raidou said.

So he didn't know that Naruto had seen you and definitely wouldn't knock on your door. But what if he had? Wait, that was a dream, wasn't it? Naruto had seen you with your bloody sword and then you had gone home broke your mirror, which was no longer broken.

Oh shit, you almost ruined the future. You felt yourself shaking.

"Calm down Sota, it didn't happen and that's all that matters, and your swordsmanship is poor enough that most other ninja would have dodged it fine," he said. "I'm going to get someone else to check on you so you won't be alone. I'll be looking for a mission we can take as you really need to get away from the village for some time. Does that sound fine?"

"I'm not sure. But yeah, I cannot hurt Naruto if I'm not here," you said.

"Good, I'll inform you when we've gotten a mission. Goodbye," he said and left.

-x-

Sometime later you heard knocking on your door and you decided to not try to attack anyone this time.

Outside you saw the friendly face of Itachi. "Hi, Sota. How are you? Raidou asked me to check up on you."

"Hi," you mumbled and yawned as the lack of a good night sleep had caught up on you.

"Mother has invited you and Naruto over for lunch," he said.

"Naruto? I don't think he wants to see me," you said.

"He's with me now," Itachi said and stepped to the side. "Will you come out for a bit at least?"

You didn't feel good about facing him, not after the way he ran away from you last night. But saying no would just make it worse.

You nodded.

Naruto was looking down at his feet mumbling something you couldn't hear. He seemed quite nervous and was rubbing one foot onto the other.

"Hi," you said carefully while keeping your distance to not spook him.

Naruto looked up and took a step back.

This was a bad idea. You turned around to go back in.

"How can I become Hokage if I'm afraid of my friend and my family," Naruto called out and ran towards you embracing you in a hug, holding good onto you. "I was scared tonight, seeing you like that. But Itachi told me it wasn't really you. Or it was you. This is all confusing, can you explain again?"

"A lot is happening to Sota these days that's hard to deal with. It's like if you fill a cup of ramen too much and it causes a bit mess," Itachi explained.

"Oh," Naruto exclaimed. You were not sure if he actually got what Itachi was trying to say, or if he now thought that the brain was a big lump of ramen.

Naruto let go of you and it was time to head for lunch.

"Naruto, shouldn't you be at the academy now?" You asked.

"I wasn't feeling well this morning, so Itachi talked to Iruka and let me have the day off," Naruto said.

"I also didn't want him to talk about what he had seen," Itachi explained.

"Our class already thinks you're evil, so Itachi didn't want me to make it worse," Naruto said.

You really had fucked up. There was a small window where your classmates had respected you. Between the time they saw you as a bully and now that you were a villain in their eyes.

"Naruto," Itachi hushed him.

"But it's true," Naruto said.

"I don't think he wants to hear it," Itachi said and nodded towards you.

"Oh," Naruto exclaimed. "I don't think you're evil," he said with the brightest grin and you couldn't help smiling back at him.

The Uchiha guard let you pass without issues, and Itachi guided you to his house as usual.

"Just sit down you three, the food is as good as ready," you heard Mikoto say from the kitchen.

As you found a place to sit around the dinner table, Mikoto came in carrying a large plate of onigiri and sat down.

"So how is school lately Naruto? Sasuke doesn't like me much," she asked him.

"Yesterday, they put a big strange box in our classroom and I could hear Jiji's voice, and he wasn't hiding in it, he was in his office. Rad… I forgot what it was called, I didn't pay much attention to sensei explaining," Naruto said and took a bite of his onigiri.

"Radio," you corrected him. "We brought a guy from Suna working with them on my first mission. I guess the village is going to use it to make long-range communication easier. We visited a signalling tower on the road to Suna that used coloured smoke, I guess they work, but radios would be easier."

"So you can use them to talk to people far far away?" Naruto asked.

"With enough radio towers yes," you said.

"So when you, Itachi or Shisui is away, I can talk to you?"

"It doesn't work like that. Only one person can use it at a time, so you'd only be able to use it if it is important."

"Oh," he said, looking a bit disappointed.

"How is your leg doing Sota?" Mikoto asked.

"I think it's almost recovered now, I'll probably need to have it checked on soon as the prosthetic is starting to get a bit ill-fitting," you said and took a big bite of your food.

"I'm happy to hear it," she said. "Everyone enjoying the food?"

You nodded along with Naruto and Itachi.

"I'm happy to hear it. Don't eat too much, I've something else you'll probably like Sota," she said.

Probably dango, definitely dango.

You finished your onigiri and declined to take another one. If you were more hungry after the dessert, you could rather take another then.

It looked like Naruto was thinking the same as you, and Itachi was not going to let you wait either.

"It's more in the kitchen, so you don't need to worry about Sasuke and Fugaku," she chuckled.

"I want your surprise," Naruto said. "It's ramen right?"

"It's not ramen, just give me a second," she said and went and got three bowls and put it in front of you.

And just as you expected, delicious balls of dango. "Thanks, it looks good," you told her and stuffed some balls in your mouth.

"Thank you. I know things aren't easy for you these days, so I decided to try making some to cheer you up, it doesn't hurt that Itachi is a big fan too," she said.

"It's not ramen, but it's good," Naruto said.

"You're silent Itachi, is something wrong?" She asked.

"No mother," he replied and took a bite of his dango.

Mikoto turned back to you. "I think you should come over here more often, I'm worried for you."

"I'm going on a mission very soon, and Sasuke doesn't like me here," you said.

"I will wait till you're back then," she said. "And don't worry about Sasuke, he cannot be mad at you forever,

"Do I even get a choice?" You asked.

"No, I'll come and get you no matter if you say yes or not, I cannot let you fall into darkness," she said.

"I'll make sure to come then," you said.

"Naruto, I think we should go to back to the academy now, you're better now right?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, but I was going to get the day off," he mumbled.

"Yes, because you weren't feeling well. Isn't the last part of the day the most fun?" Itachi asked. "You need to practise if you want to catch up to Sasuke."

Naruto got suddenly much more attentive. "Thank you for the food Mikoto," he said and leap out to put on his shoes.

"I guess I should be leaving then to," you said.

"Just wait a minute, will you? I want to talk you without them here," she said.

"That's fine," you said and put another piece of dango in your mouth.

With the door closed behind them, Mikoto turned her attention to you.

"I'm happy that you and Itachi are good friends. And you're always welcome here no matter what happens, so don't feel alone no matter what Danzo makes you do. But if you ever hurt my family," she said and flashed her Sharingan while everything else went dark, "I'll show you no mercy."

In a blink of an eye, everything was back to normal again.

"Let me just pack some of the dango so you can have some for later," she said with her usual friendly voice and went into the kitchen.

You considered sneaking out, but you didn't really dare right now. Though you could at least put your shoes on and wait.

"Here," she said and handed you a box of dango before hugging you. "Stay safe."

"Thanks," you mumbled back and left the house.

-x-

Later that evening Raidou knocked on your door. "It's me, can I talk to you a bit?"

"Sure," you said and opened the door for him. You saw him standing a few feet more than necessary away from the door.

"I've gotten a mission for us tomorrow, I want you to meet up inside the Hokage tower at about 7 am. You don't need to bring anything but some clothes and your weapons, everything else will be taken care of. And no sword, I'm taking your katana," he said and took your blade that was laying on a shelf.

"Sounds good," you said.

"One more thing," Raidou said and looked over his shoulder. "I was going to tell the Hokage about Danzo, but he's not in the village for the moment. So I'll have to wait till he's back, but I will fix this I promise."

"Thanks," you said.

"Now I'll let you get ready for bed. Good night," he said.

"Good night," you replied back.

You had no intention to go to bed, you didn't want any more bad dreams.

-x-

You arrived early at the Hokage tower the next morning, as you were tired of sitting in your apartment was getting boring. And you really didn't want to fall asleep.

You took a sip of ink and took out some pieces of paper, you could at least get some practice done while you're waiting.

You look around in the room to get some motif and decided on some of the flowers. Yours weren't perfect, but they got better with each attempt.

"Good morning Sota, you're early," Raidou greeted you. "Anxious about the mission?"

"No, I just cannot sleep properly and I did try to take a run before bed, it didn't work," you lied. You were not going to tell him that you'd not slept at all tonight.

"Oh? Hopefully you'll be able to sleep better outside the village," he said. "The others should be here soon."

You stayed silent and Raidou picked up one of your drawings.

"Where is your brush?" He asked.

"In my bag," you said.

Raidou laughed, "I didn't mean it that way. How are you making them without a brush?"

"Oh," you exclaimed and pushed your fingers onto another piece of paper, creating another flower, a much better one than the ones you started with. "Danzo taught me, I don't want to make seals in here in case something goes wrong, so I'll practise with flowers instead."

"If only he shared more of his knowledge with the rest of the village he," Raidou paused for a moment to look around him, "he might weight up for some of his awful behaviour."

"It was either learning this or get beaten," you mumbled.

"Don't worry Sota, we'll fix this," he said and held around you.

Just about then, Torune and Kabuto arrived with a man following right behind them.

"Good morning Sensei, we decided to wait for the client outside, just so he wouldn't get lost," Kabuto said.

"Thank you, I hope you're ready Gyosha-san?" Raidou asked.

"Yes, this isn't my first time dealing with ninja. He's one of yours?" He asked and pointed to you.

"Yes, I hope you don't have any problems with that," Raidou said.

"Nothing like that. The closest I've ever come to dying was being ambushed by kids his age during the last war. Sneaky bastards from Hidden Stone, you couldn't see them coming, I barely managed to get away before they struck my wagon. I thought I was safe as I was far from the conflict. My only saving grace was that they were too busy looting my stuff to chase after me. I lost a lot of money on that, but I know better now. So as long as he doesn't sneak up on me I won't have any problems with him."

"I won't," you said and look up at him.

"We should get going," Raidou said, "pick up your stuff Sota."

You threw the drawings in the trash and followed them outside to where he had parked his wagon. Two horses were standing in front and seemed eager to get going as the merchant walked up to them and rubbed their muzzle.

"We need to check your wagon before we leave," Raidou said.

"Is that really necessary? You can trust me," Gyasha said.

"Now I start to think you've something to hide. Kabuto, I'm putting you in charge of this, and please show Sota how it's done."

"Alright Sensei. Sota, the things we're looking after is any medicine, weapons and drugs that's not accounted for. Gyasha, I need your import form and are there some discrepancies you'll want to tell us about before we find it ourself?," Kabuto asked the merchant.

"No no, everything is in order here," the merchant said and handed Kabuto a scroll.

"This says he's with him ten swords that are not to be sold in the village. So we're looking to see if anyone is missing, or if he's too many," Kabuto said and began looking through the wagon in any possible hiding place.

"Nothing seems to be hidden away, so that part is fine, "

"Why are we checking for this, he's a merchant right?" You asked.

"We don't allow merchants to export weapons from the village risking a shortage, and we don't want any weapons of unknown quality or risk the blacksmiths in the village getting outcompeted. So while they can bring their goods into the village, they need to prove they've not sold anything and that's what we're checking for," Kabuto explained.

After going through everything else on the list, Kabuto turned to Raidou. "Everything seems to be in order sensei, so we can leave now."

"Sota, hop onto his wagon and be ready with your bow," Raidou told you. "This is a chance to use what we practised. Fire a warning shot first, and if they don't back down, aim closer. No one approaching a ninja escort has good intentions in mind and anyone that keeps chasing us after being shot at by explosives is a huge danger."

You nodded. You were not sure if you liked the idea of shooting at real people, but he had a point.

"I'm not sure if I want him on my roof," Gyasha said.

"He's light as a feather," Raidou said.

"It's not that, he's just making me a bit jumpy," he said.

"He has got a bad foot so I don't want him to be running all day, and this makes ambushes from behind less likely. I'll keep one eye on him, so you have nothing to worry about," Raidou said.

Keeping an eye on you, was that to calm him down, or did he really think it was necessary?

"You're right, it's over a decade since, I cannot be afraid forever," Gyasha said.

"Alright, jump on Sota, and make sure to not fall off. It will get easier when we get up in speed," he told you.

Gyasha got into the front of his wagon and grabbed onto the reins of the horses and made them start walking.

As you left the village proper, the wagon began to pick up speed and you needed to hold on for a better grip to not fall off. But when the horses were no longer was speeding up, it was no issue at all. It just provided a breeze behind you as you looked for anyone suspicious.

It was nice to not having to walk, but not having to focus on running also meant that you got much faster bored and it didn't help that you were getting more and more sleepy. Maybe picking up a conversation would help you stay awake?

"You don't feel worried about getting robbed Gyasha? We're not the strongest team and your goods seem to be quite valuable," you asked the merchant and let out a yawn.

"Not at all. I'm mostly hiring you guys because my insurance company requires at least C-rank protection. No one would be stupid enough to attack us and if they do, either you deal with them or we hand over the wares voluntary and I get paid in full by the insurance company. You just need to vouch for me that I have been robbed by someone you couldn't handle. So if you were worried or expected any action here, you'll be quite disappointed," he said.

"So I'm just looking out for nothing?" You asked as you looked for any movements in the vegetation behind you.

"It's best to not take any chances at all. Even a small risk can become great when you take thousands of trips during your career. I'd probably hire a team even if I wasn't required to now that I think about it."

"I see," you said and kept starring at the leaves, where someone moving in there or was it just the wind?

Several hours later in the evening, you arrived in the Land of Rice Fields to a large and nice-looking town. And unlike the Land of Fire, it actually lived up to its name as you saw rice paddies right up the town. And that was maybe the most interesting you had seen during the trip as you were so damn tired. If it wasn't for the horses high speed and the shaking of the wagon, they'd fall asleep hours ago. You had passed some people, but they had kept a good distance and was following Raidou's orders of stepping out of the way and stand still without any fuss.

A Konoha-nin that you didn't recognize, ran up to your sensei. "Hi there Raidou, you and your team need to come with me. We need some more manpower at the Grand Rice Inn," he said.

"Hyousuke, the village has already reserved two rooms for us at a smaller place, I think it is best to keep Sota and Torune somewhere calmer," your sensei argued.

"I'm the commanding officer here. I've got the mission details here, signed by our Hokage, so if you have any issues with my orders, you can take it up with him when you're back in Konoha.," Hyousuke said and handed him a scroll.

"Don't worry, I will if necessary. I've other things to take up with him anyway."

"You better not make any trouble for me. And don't worry about the costs at the hotel, the village will pay for the extra expenses."

"With Sota here, I wouldn't bet on this mission ending well, but if you insist on your orders I'll guess I'll have no choice," Raidou said.

"Calm down Raidou. He's what, seven-years-old, what's the worst he can do, stay up after bedtime?" Hyousuke asked and walked away.

Raidou sighed. "Let's go. team," he said and guided you to the hotel.

-x-

"Alright, this key is for you two," Raidou told Torune and Kabuto and handed them a key. "Please use it, the owners don't like it when their guests use alternative ways of entering their rooms."

"Sensei, that was one time, do you have to bring it up every time?" Kabuto asked.

"It was one time you got caught," Raidou corrected them. "You'll share a room with me Sota, please stay out of trouble. I don't want a repeat of the last mission."

Technically he told you to wanter around last time, but it was best to not argue with him. "I'll be careful," you said and yawned.

"Feel free to order whatever you want to eat, the village is paying for everything. And please keep up appearances, we don't want the other villages to think we're weak," Raidou said and turned to Torune.

He seemed to be a bit harsh on him.'

"I guess I should lead the way since none of you has been here before," he said and walked towards where you'd be eating.

There was more ninja there than you had expected. You saw the headbands of Iwa, Kumo and Konoha. The room was split in three, with some civilians sprinkled within. Most of them seem to hurry to finish to avoid being in the crossfire in case a fight broke out. And in the middle of the room, raised on a pedestal was someone playing the piano for you all to enjoy.

"I almost forgot, show this and your food will be put on the village's tab," he said and handed you each a small scroll.

"Thanks," you mumbled and got in line.

You looked around, was there anyone you recognized?

Orange beard, purple clothes, and a hat with the Iwa symbol. Was that Roshi? Why did they bring a Jinchuuriki here? Sure, Konoha did the same with you, but you were not really here as a Jinchuuriki.

What caught you as a bigger surprise, was Killer Bee walking past you with his plate full of dumplings. What was going on here? It couldn't be a coincident that two of the strongest ninja villages brought their strongest ninja to this place.

Better not stare too much at him, you wouldn't want to make him suspicious or make the other Konoha-nin think you fanboyed a foreign Jinchuuriki.

After a few minutes, it was finally your turn. You looked at what they served and realized that you should perhaps have thoughts about what you wanted beforehand.

You could get another serving afterwards, so you should just order something and not hold up the queue for potentially a lot of angry ninja.

"Uhh.. a bit of chicken, rice and some of that curry sauce," you kitchen staff and held out the scroll as proof of payment. "And please not too much, I want to try something else later."

She nodded and filled a small plate before handing it to you. "Have a nice meal," she said.

"Thanks," you said and looked for the others.

"Over here Sota," Raidou called out and waved for you to come to his table.

You nodded and walked carefully with your plate and sat down.

But before you started eating, you got your bag and fished out a piece of paper and started to write on it.

'What is going on here? I see that both Iwa and Kumo have brought their Jinchuuriki here?'

You slid it across the table, blank side up, and Raidou paused for a second before discretely picking it up.

Raidou held out his hand, you figured he wanted something to write on, so you handed him a few blank pieces of paper and something to write with.

'Who did Iwa bring?' Raidou wrote down on a piece of paper and handed it back to you.

'That man in purple with orange hair and beard. His name is Roshi and has the four-tails,' you wrote and tilted your head in his direction as Raidou read it.

'I'll go tell Hyousuke', he wrote back and left the table with his table.

You could see that Kabuto and Torune were sitting at another table with some ninja you didn't know. It was fine, the less you interacted with that shady spy the better, but you kind of enjoyed Torune's company.

After you finished your plate, it was time to try some of that sushi Raidou had eaten.

The cue was still long and uneventful and after a bit of waiting it was your turn again.

"What would you like?" The lady asked.

"Some sushi, pick something good for me please," you said and showed her your scroll.

"No need, I remember you. Do you have any allergies?" She asked.

You shook your head.

"Alright, this and this and this would do," she said and handed back a plate of three nicely made pieces of sushi.

"Thanks," you said and went back to your table. It looked like a lot, but you could just save it for later if needed.

"Look good," someone said and put one of your pieces of sushi into their mouth.

You looked up at them, and a blond boy looking like an older version of Ino, at least the Ino you were used to by now.

The looks and the Iwa forehead protector could only mean one thing.

"Deidara?" You asked him.

"Yeah, that's me. Roshi is an old bore and doesn't let me buy stuff like this, I hope you don't mind," he said while stuffing his mouth full of sushi.

"I mind," you said and tried to move away, but he held you back.

"I'm still hungry," he said and picked up another piece of sushi.

Raidou said you shouldn't appear weak and keep up appearances for the village, so you had to do something. With a combination of sleep deprivation and general foolishness, you decided that the best course of action was to grab a kunai and held it up against his chest.

Deidara started to laugh. "You really are a stupid kid," he said and grabbed a kunai of his own and held it against your neck, but not hard enough to trigger your seals. So this was a chance to have fun with this murderous Akatsuki bastard.

"Do it! Push it further," you said and smiled at him.

His face changed, some of the confidence was running out. "You're lucky kid, I'm going to spare you for today," he said.

"Are all Iwa-nin fence-sitters like you and Onoki?" You asked, grinning at him, letting your tiredness take overhand. "Don't make a threat you're not willing to follow up on."

Maybe it wasn't so bad being a ninja after all.

"No, you don't. Our Tsuchikage isn't a," he mumbled.

Now to strike. You took a quick step forward letting the kunai press hard enough to prick your skin and poof into your seal.

"I… I…," Deidara mumbled. "What…?" He took a few steps backwards and put the sushi he stole on the tip of your kunai.

He didn't get far before Roshi grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry about this," he said in passing and dragged him out of the restaurant.

"Sota, I leave you alone for just a few minutes and you almost start another war," he whispered to you. "Follow me, you can bring your plate."

As you walked out of the restaurant, you could see that everyone had their eyes on you. The only one that didn't seem to care was the pianist that continued playing without interruption. You didn't care about Iwa or Kumo, but you knew that this would worsen your reputation more among your fellow Konoha-nin.

Back into the room Raidou sat down on his bed and grasped his head.

"Can you please explain what was happened down there?" He asked.

You sat down on your bed and started to explain what had happened, about him stealing your sushi and keeping up appearances.

"Why do you always misinterpret my orders? That was more aimed at Torune. I'm not saying you're doing a bad job, but it always ends up in unintended consequences. Yes, we show that we don't let us get run over, but we're also sending a threatening signal to Iwagakure, and as you said yourself. Don't make a threat you're not willing to follow up on," he said.

"I'm sorry, I just got a bit excited," you defended yourself. "And it doesn't help that I didn't sleep properly tonight." Not sleeping countered as not sleeping properly right?

"This isn't something Danzo put you up to right, like last time?" He asked.

"No, Deidara approached me as I told you."

"And how do you know his name is Deidara?"

"I hear Roshi mention his name," you lied.

"And how did you know Roshi's name and that he was a Jinchuuriki?" He asked.

"Danzo told me before the mission," you lied.

"So Danzo is involved in this somehow. What is he up to?" Raidou asked.

"I don't know, he didn't tell me anything other than about Roshi and Bee," you said.

"I've gotten a worse and worse feeling about this. Anything Danzo is involved with is bad news. I suggest we go outside and get some fresh air, I think getting away from the hotel would be good for us," he suggested.

"Alright," you said and walked towards the door.

"I have something to do first, so just wait outside the entrance will you?" he said.

"Sure," you said and walked down the hallway.

To be fair, you kind of wanted to be alone right now, so if you were quick he might not catch up to you.

As you reach the end of the hallway, an arm grabbed you and dragged you into a room and locked the door behind you.

"What do you want? You asked and turned around to get a look of the room.

"We just want to talk to you Uzumaki Sota, that's you right?" a young woman asks.

Wait, that was… "Yes, you're Yugito and Bee right? Hi," you greeted back with a smile. At least they weren't bad people, at least in the timeline you knew.

"Yo," Bee greeted back with a hand in the air.

"How do you know my name? Bee here is famous I know, but I'm not," Yugito said. Already suspicious of you.

"I overheard Bee saying your name down in the restaurant," you lied.

"I've been up here the entire time, I didn't feel that hungry," she said.

"Oh, the food down there is great, you should try it and the pianist aren't bad either."

"We're not here to talk about that. You know you're a Jinchuuriki right?" She asked.

"Yes I know, but you shouldn't know," you said. Was there another spy close to you that you should be careful about, other than Kabuto?

"We know because you once belonged to Kumo, you got kidnapped as a toddler. I was supposed to be Matatabi's Jinchuuriki, but then you showed up," she explained and sighed. "I started my training before you were even born, and then one day I was told they'd already sealed her into you. Just because you Uzumaki are supposedly better at containing tailed beasts."

"I'm sorry," you replied.

"Oh nothing to be sorry for, you saved me. I didn't really want to do it, but I couldn't turn down such an honour either."

"I see, Matatabi has started to become nicer, but I've not talked to her in a while, I hope she's not mad at me."

"How is Konoha treating you?" She asked.

You paused for a few seconds. "Good."

"You wouldn't hesitate if it was good. What happened to your leg?" She asked.

"I got injured during a mission," you explained. "I did something stupid, then I tried to hide that I was doing something stupid"

"You know, you can come with us if you want? You belong to us, so you defecting will just be us taking what's rightfully ours," she suggested.

"No," you quickly said. Danzo would be angry and you knew better than to cross him, he'd find you.

"Think about it. Your village is messed up. You're too young to be a ninja, I can tell that you're good, but you're mentally not ready. But Konoha doesn't care. I've heard Konoha-nin praising teamwork, but tortured young prodigies is what you village really is about," she said.

"Everyone thinks their village own village is perfect and that everyone else is doing it wrong, it's called propaganda," you argued.

"Do you believe Konoha is perfect?" She asked.

"Uhh," you stuttered.

"You know your village is rotten to the core. So join us," she asked again.

"I'm sure your village has done all sorts of bad things too. You complain about Konoha graduating ninja too early, I'm sure Kumo did the same thing during the 3rd ninja war," you argued. Why did you defend Konoha? Both Danzo and Hiruzen were dirtbags, but you couldn't trust Yugito and Bee to tell the truth either.

"No, only two villages sent out ninja your age out on the battlefield. Konoha, and then you've Kiri which is run by a literal psychopath. Both we and Iwagakure weighted the long term benefits and made sure we trained our ninja. While your village threw children like you onto into their death just to see who could survive long enough to see another day," she explained.

"I'm sure we did it because we were desperate," you said.

"Konoha is not at war anymore, and they still let you graduate way too early, what good reason do they have for that?. And it was they that started the war. Your Hokage is a cold-hearted monster who let Danzo do the dirty work for him. It was not an act of desperation, it was a calculated decision. Danzo has you under control right?"

"I…"

"I take that as a yes. Let me tell you more about the day five years ago when you left Kumo. One of our ambassadors had just been killed in Konoha and was framed for attempted kidnapping. The leader of the Hyuuga lied about him trying to kidnap his daughter, just so he could get away with killing him in cold blood. We demanded fair compensation, but instead, Danzo and Orochimaru infiltrated our village and took you from your home. We tried to stop them, but they threatened to release Matatabi and wreck the village if we didn't obey. So we did what we thought was the right thing to do and let them get away with you. I'm sorry," she said.

"It's nothing to say sorry about, I lost my memory about a year ago, so I don't remember my entire stay in Konoha. But for the first months, things were fine, I'm just a bit of a rough patch now, I'm sure things will get better," you said.

"You're not fine, I saw your act down in the restaurant, you're living under constant stress. We can see the effect Danzo have on you. You know that he killed your parents right?" Bee asked.

"I don't believe you, besides, I don't remember them and they're not really my parents, it's hard to explain."

And you rather not explain how you came from another world with all the knowledge about this world taking over the body of the real Sota.

"Danzo doesn't like loose ends and your parents wanted to get you back, so he murdered them and left them in the road as a warning," she said.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it," this reminded you just about Danzo when he'd try to make you believe something. A string of convenient explanation for issue after issue. She also reminded you of your double the other night.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You're trying to manipulate me like everyone else. Stop it!" You called out.

Bee put a hand on your shoulder. "I apologize that we're sounding manipulative, but we just want to help you, and part of that is to show you the truth. You want to get away from Konoha, I can see it in you. You're not doing well with your team, which is why your teammates weren't sitting with you during dinner. You've burst of violence because you no longer know how to deal with things, Danzo has messed you up. So please take our offer, we can smuggle you out of this place and we'll be far away when anyone noticed you're gone and not just wandering around this town."

"I want to leave, I want to escape, but I can't," you said and buried your face in your hands. "Do you think I can take a little nap here? I didn't sleep last night and before that, I didn't get much sleep either."

"Take my bed, I've something I need to do, but Yugito here will stay here, so don't worry," Bee offered.

"Thanks, you said and laid down in the bed. You yawned once more and quickly fell asleep.

-x-

You were back in Konoha and the air was full of dust as explosives rained down from the sky causing rubble and destruction.

Up in the sky, you could see Deidara in his black cloak and red clouds riding his bird. "If you want me to stop, give up Uzumaki Sota," he yelled out for everyone to hear.

In a blink of an eye, you were somewhere else. Had you blacked out for a moment?

All around you stood your former classmates, all apart from Shin and Naruto with shapeless villagers in the background. All the dust in the air made it impossible to make out any details.

"Take him, he's not worth it," you heard Raidou behind you and just now you realized that he was the one holding your limbs and pushing you towards Deidara.

You started to hear chanting around you. "Demon, demon, demon." From both the villagers and your former classmates.

"I'm not, I'm not, I'm not," you told yourself. You didn't want to believe this was real. You knew they distrusted you, but they didn't think of you as a monster, but something told you that you were not sleeping, that this wasn't a dream.

Deidara just stood there with his stupid smile as you got closer and closer to him. You had to do something. You still had a kunai on you.

When Raidou let go of his grip to hand you over, you quickly grabbed your kunai and began to thrust it into Deidara.

You stabbed and stabbed but nothing happened.

-x-

"Sota, it's fine, you're safe," your heard Bee tell you as he patted your head.

Without thinking, you tried to thrust the kunai into him.

Needless to say, it didn't work. "I'll take that, before you stab someone's hat" Bee said and twisted your kunai out of your hand.

None of that was real. You were back in their hotel room. There was no smoke in the air, no rubble, no classmates. Just Bee. But it felt real.

You took a deep breath before talking."I'm sorry, I'm just not sleeping well lately."

"I hope you've not been rhyming behind my back, he doesn't look good?" Yugito said as she entered the room holding a cup of something hot.

"It's tea, if you want some yourself, Bee can go get some for you," she said as you looked at her cup.

"Come on," Bee complained.

"It's fine. I'm more a hot chocolate guy, tea reminds me of…," you said.

"Danzo?" She asked.

You nodded. "Whenever he wants to talk to me, he breaks into my place and makes himself tea, he isn't even doing the dishes after him."

"Bee, go get him a mug of hot chocolate," Yugito ordered.

"That's not necessary," you said.

"Just say thanks," she said.

"Thanks," you said.

"Alright, I'll go," Bee said reluctantly.

Yugito went to look for something in her bag and came back with a picture.

"This is you and your mother," she handed you the picture.

You looked at it, a red-haired woman smiling into the camera with a sleeping toddler in her lap, Sota, the boy you've stolen your identity from.

"There is something I have to admit, about what I told you earlier. I was babysitting you that night, but I got knocked out when I refused to give you up. After your mother died, I kept it on me as a reminder of my failure. You can keep it, it's not my only copy," she said.

"Thanks," you mumbled as tears ran down your cheeks. You wanted to get away, but you couldn't, this wasn't the way, the village would be after you.

"This is for you," Bee said and handed you a mug."You can stay here for a bit more if you want. Maybe a rap will cheer you up, I'm quite a …"

"No, you're prohibited from rapping after you insulted the Daimyo's sister last week," Yugito scolded him.

"But he's not feeling well, it's like his entire life is a hell," B said.

You took a sip of the chocolate and let out a chuckle over how Bee acted like a child.

"I don't want him to join us just so he can defect due to your awful performance," Yugito told him.

"You wouldn't be the only one you know, your friend Shin also escaped his woe," Bee said and got interrupted by a slap from Yugito.

"Shin is in Kumo?" You asked and took another sip.

"Yes, he ran away after getting falsely accused of attacking a classmate with explosives," Yugito explained.

"He's not really a friend," you said.

"That was not what he said, are you sure it's not just in your head?" Bee said.

"Given Shin's situation, we of course interrogated him. About his family, friends, what he knew and whatever useful info on Konoha he could give us," Yugito said.

"Why were you there?"

"I wasn't, but when I heard he mention you, I asked to see the reports and he spoke warmly about you. So if you're afraid of not having any friends in Kumo, you have at least him, or don't you feel the same?"

"He's friendly, he's probably the only one of my former classmates apart from Naruto that doesn't hate me. Everyone thinks I framed him, thinks I'm dangerous. Naruto saw me... do stuff, but he seems to have gotten over it. I don't know what I was doing. I woke up with bloody clothes and a bloody sword. I don't what was going on, I think someone was messing with me," you said.

"Another reason to leave then," Yugito said.

"How would I even get away from here? They'd catch me long before I arrive in your village. Then I'm even more fucked than now," you said.

"We'll put you in one of the laundry baskets and just walk out with you, it isn't harder than that, but we should go quickly before they notice you are gone," she explained.

"No, I wish I could say yes, get a new start, but I can't," you said and took another sip.

"After you've finished drinking, you should go back to your team. I suggest you climb out the window so you can pretend you've been outside for some time," she said.

You nodded and finished the cup in one big sip and handed her your mug.

"One thing before you leave," she said and went for a glass of water.

"Uh," you mumbled.

She then came back and sprinkled drops of water all over you.

"What are you doing?" You asked.

"Have you seen the weather outside? It's raining, it might not be much, but your sensei would know that you've not been outside for a few hours if you come back completely dry.

That made sense.

"See you then. And our offer still stays. We'll be here for a few days, so if you change your mind, just give us a nod and we'll come and get you," she said as you opened the window and looked if there was anyone there that would see you, but the coast was clear.

"Bye, I will think about it," you said and jumped out of the window.

"Sota, there you are! I've been looking for you for hours!" Raidou yelled at you as you walked towards the entrance.

"I'm sorry sensei, I just wanted some time alone," you said.

"Didn't I tell you to not get out of my sight on this mission?"

You shook your head, you were pretty sure he didn't.

"I was sure I did, anyway, we're going back in now," he said and dragged you by your arm, inside the hotel, up the stairs, down the hallway and into your room.

"I'm staying here keeping watch on you till it's time for breakfast tomorrow. Got it?" He asked.

You nodded.

"Is there anything you want to say?"

You shook your head. It was best to say as little as possible, you didn't want him to know about your talk with Bee and Yugito.

Thanks to that nap, you didn't feel like going to bed right away. There wasn't much you could do apart from starting to draw again.

Raidou's eyes were fixed on you the entire time, or at least every time you moved your eyes away from what you were doing.

"I'm don't want to go to bed yet, I'll just get another nightmare, so you can just go to bed," you said.

"I'm not letting my eyes off you, who knows where you'd be sneaking off while I'm asleep."

"How long are we staying here?" You asked.

"I don't know. Hyousuke seems to want us here for god who knows that reason. But it's not like we have any hurry in going back. If you just can keep out of trouble for once, it's better to have you were away from Danzo," he said.

"Thanks," you replied. "I cannot deal with him well. I wish he could just die. But I've no idea how."

"You shouldn't try to kill him, that will just get you in more trouble. You're good, but not that good. You've not even been a genin for a year, and he's over sixty years of experience behind him. He knows your tricks, so please don't try anything stupid."

"It just gets worse and worse, I cannot cope with it anymore," you said.

"Which is why I'll talk to the Hokage when we're back," he said.

"Like he'll do anything, he's let Danzo do whatever till now and all he has done is to take his anger out on me!" you yelled.

"Sota, you don't talk like that about your Hokage, and please keep your voice down. I'm sure he's a pretty good reason to do what he's been doing. His relationship with Danzo is complicated, so he has to thread careful," he said.

You didn't want to talk to him anymore, so you let out a big yawn and went back to your drawings. Maybe if you could just lay down a bit. You weren't going to sleep, just have your head on the pillow with your eyes closed.

-x-

As you opened your eyes, you were aching in pain. A blue cloud was surrounding you and you could feel your energy being drained away from you.

Through the fog, you could see ten figures standing on each their finger. Not being able to make out anything other than Pain's Rinnegan.

Behind you, you could see the creepy Gedō Mazō statue sucking in Matatabi's chakra.

No, no, no. That wasn't a dream, you were awake. You just dreamt that you were in a hotel with several other jinchuuriki. Maybe they were the result energies from the others that had been sacrificed on the altar of Akatsuki. Meeting Deidara here was just your brain's way of processing everything. Him stealing your sushi was just your brain telling you that he was taking Matatabi.

What could you do? You could try to drag the chakra back maybe?

-x-

Before you could do anything. Your body jumped up in your bed and you were awake. You took deep breaths to calm yourself down. Outside it was still dark and you could hear the rain hitting the window. You looked over at Raidou's bed and you could see him still sleeping.

It was not real, it was not real.

Maybe you should take a walk? If you were lucky there were some lights outside even at night. All that you were certain about was that you didn't want to fall back to the same dream.

As you left your room, you saw Deidara entering his. Why had he been out at this time?

You heard no click from his lock, so maybe… maybe you could take him out. Maybe Danzo was right about taking out your enemies before they could hurt you.

No, you couldn't think like that.

But Akatsuki was dangerous, and you got a reminder of what would happen if they found you. They'd capture you with any means available. If that meant attacking the village so they'd give you up, they do it. And unlike Naruto, few would stand up for you, and unlike Naruto when Pain attacked, you had little to defend yourself with against a self-proclaimed god.

So if you could take out one member while he was still weak, you would gain an advantage.

It would also save Gaara, as his flying bird and explosives were what won him the fight. With all the changes to the timeline that you had caused, there was no certainty that things would play out the same this time.

Naruto might never befriend Gaara. Sakura could fail to defeat Sasori. Chiyo might not sacrifice herself this time. There was a lot that could go wrong.

Anyone else in the organization would be at a much greater disadvantage against Gaara and fewer members would mean that everything from gathering funds, hunting down Jinchuuriki and extracting their chakra would go slower.

But if Roshi was there with him, then you had a bit of a problem. You looked behind you, just to see that no one was watching your plotting. But there was no one, and the doors were fitted with proper locks you couldn't see through.

You also needed to wait till Deidara was asleep. Wait, didn't you see Roshi entering a different room earlier?

You let out a big yawn. If only you could get a long night's sleep you wouldn't doubt your memory so much.

But if you remembered correctly, that meant that Deidara was most likely alone. You didn't see him with any team members earlier and he probably didn't have any sleepovers.

You started to count inside you to get a feeling on how long you were waiting. After about fifteen minutes you decided that enough was enough, and you opened his door. He was asleep. Thank god for that.

Slowly one after another step you approached him, making sure to not make a noise, you were in luck as the floor was on your side. Sturdy and not at all squeaky. You got a good grasp on the kunai with both your hands, you had one shot and you needed all the power your small body could provide.

You stopped in front of him and looked at him. He was still a child, you couldn't do this! He hadn't done anything worse than taking your food, probably due to some unresolved issues. He was sleeping peacefully, chest slowly rising and falling. Not knowing that he might at any moment stop breathing. Maybe you should just turn around and tomorrow you could try to befriend him, bond over your love for explosions. Maybe...

No, you couldn't hesitate now! Because he would not hesitate at all the day he'd bomb the village to get to you.

You looked at his neck, looking for a place to strike and went for it, but then someone put their hand in front of your mouth and pulled the kunai out of your hands

"Sota, what the hell are you doing," Raidou whispered into your ear.

"What's going on here!" Roshi yelled out and turned on the light.

Deidara woke up and grabbed the kunai on his nightstand and pointed it at you with a shaking hand.

"No need to worry, Sota here struggles with sleepwalking and must have thought this was his room. I'm sorry for waking you up," Raidou told Deidara before turning to Roshi. "Thank you for being understanding here Roshi, I'll make sure he isn't wandering about again."

"If you take him back to your village tomorrow, we can see past this misunderstanding. But if I see him attempt to make another move on Deidara, I'll personally kill him," Roshi told Raidou.

"Deidara, stay clear of him till he leaves, I'll be watching you make sure you're safe," Roshi told him.

"I really shouldn't have stolen his food," you could hear Deidara mumble as you left his room.

Had you made a mistake? No, he still had the same attitude that had lead him to Akatsuki the last time.

Back into your room Raidou looked angrier than ever. "I will not hear another word from you. Go back to sleep."

"I can't sleep! Every time I sleep I get nightmares, and every time a voice in my head is telling me it's all real," you cried out.

Raidou paused for a few seconds be for letting out a short. "Oh fuck."

"What is it?" You asked.

"Inoichi messed up," he said and put a hand on your head and you felt a spike of chakra entering your system.

"What's wrong?"

"You were convinced you were dreaming yesterday, so not knowing what else we could do, Inoichi put a genjutsu on you making you think you were awake. It was supposed to get dispelled as you fell asleep, but instead, it made you think your dreams were real too. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, so I can sleep better now?" You asked.

"Hopefully. So please try to get some sleep, not even you can cause problems in your sleep," he said with not much hope in his voice.

You let down another yawn before falling down in the bed.

-x-

You woke up as you were falling on the floor.

"Sota, are you okay?" Raidou asked.

"Yes, I'm just tired."

"I can see why, you've barely been still the entire night. Nightmares?" He asked.

You nodded.

"I'm sorry I didn't take your lack of sleep more serious. Get dressed so we can go to breakfast, the quicker we can get going the better," he said.

You nodded and got off the floor and found some clean clothes.

"If anything happens during breakfast, just back down. Don't taunt them, don't start a fight, just give them your food if you need to," he said.

"I get it," you said.

"And bring your stuff, I want us gone here as soon right after we've eaten so we won't have any problems with Iwa."

Most of your stuff is packed already, so you grabbed your bag, put it over your shoulder and wait outside in the hall.

You nodded.

The hallway was clear and no Kumo-nin was trying to drag you into their room. Not that they'd do it with Raidou walking right behind you.

As you reached the end, Raidou stopped. "I should probably go and tell the others that they need to make themselves ready and go down to breakfast, just go down and join the queue. I doubt even you can cause any serious trouble in ten seconds."

You nodded and let out a yawn before continuing down.

Without warning, you got dragged into another room. You tried crying out for help, but they had already placed his hand in front of your mouth to prevent you from making any noise.

And before Raidou could turn around and see that something was wrong, the kidnapper had locked the door behind you.

You started to kick whoever was holding you.

"Stop struggling kid. If you cooperate I'll be gentle on you," he said.

As you saw an open laundry basket in the middle of a room, you knew where this was going. You tried kicking him harder at the right place to maybe get him to drop you.

He quickly lifted you higher up. "I didn't want to do this, but you force my hand," he said and pinched your nose closed. "You better stop struggling if you don't want to run out of air."

You had to do something, you reached into your seal bag and grabbed a handful of whatever seals you could grab.

Your seals better not fail you now as you slapped them into your attacker and activated them. A large flash, and an ear-deafening sound later, you went falling through the floor. Which must have given up thanks to the explosion.

It was a soft landing as you landed on top of him. He was completely unstill. Everything around you was filled with smoke and dust. You considered checking his pulse, but after taking a closer look at him, it was clear that it was in no way necessary.

Almost on cue, you stared to chuckle. Danzo was right, this felt good. You shouldn't feel bad for him, he deserved it.

No, no, you shouldn't think like that.

But as Danzo said, it was all about sending a signal. No one would mess with a seven-year-old sitting on the top of their victim laughing.

Around you, the smoke had cleared up and you realized where you were. On top of the piano, raised in the middle of the restaurant for everyone to see.

The pianist had crawled next to the wall and was shivering as you turned your glance down at him.

Right above him was a mirror and in it, you saw a monster drenched in blood looking right at you. Smiling creepily at you. No, it was you, you couldn't deny it. No... No…

You clutched your head and started breathing rapidly.

You had completely forgotten that you were in the middle of the dining hall and looked around you.

A row of Kumo-nin had their sword out sparking with lightning looking ready to charge at you.

"He tried to kidnap me!" You yelled out in panic. "He was going to stuff me in his laundry bin!"

One of them broke the line and charged at you with the others followed right behind.

You froze up, not knowing what to do, you had nowhere to run. Your heart was beating faster and faster.

Tentacles followed behind them, and one after another they got yanked back by Bee. But he was too late for the last one, and the unknown Kumo-nin jumped up and swung his sword at you.

You tried dodging, but it was useless. As the blade hit you, an immense pain struck through your body. Your seals had captured the sword but did nothing against electricity soaring inside you, paralysing you in the process.

When everything had discharged. your heart was calm again. In fact, it had completely stopped, you clutched your chest and fell over.

Charka streamed out from your Matatabi's seal and filled your system. Moments later something started to squeeze on heart, then again, in a rhythmic fashion and you started to get back the feeling in your body that you didn't know you had lost.

You tried sitting up but you were too weak so you tried pushing yourself up by your arms, it was hard and your arms were shaking. A weak blue glow covered them and probably the rest of your body.

Thank you Mata

"Everyone calm down!" Bee yelled out with more authority than you've ever heard from him before.

You had no idea what was going around you and you didn't want to risk losing your balance by turning around.

After a few seconds had passed, Bee started to speak again. "He is lying, Kumo would never try to kidnap anyone. We can see past this, but then we want compensation."

"Compensation? You guys just attacked him and almost killed him!" You could hear the voice of Raidou yelling.

"He's alive. I tried to stop it, but you cannot say he didn't have it coming. We're being merciful here. As the highest-ranked Kumo-nin here, I've got a proposal for Konoha.

"Give Uzumaki Sota here a real choice of defecting to Kumogakure. There will be no charges against him and no one will hold what happened here against him. It's not his fault that you've been brainwashing him to become like this. He'll be under my care and I'll ensure no harm comes to him.

"Decline or renege on the agreement and you'll find yourself at war with Kumogakure effective immediately. You've ten minutes to decide."

"You cannot be serious. You expect him to want to go to Kumo after what you just did to him?" Raidou asked.

"It is his choice if he wants to defect or not. If you think he prefers Konoha, then you've nothing to fear. The clock is ticking, so you better figure out who here has the authority to make the decision," Bee said.

"I think we need some to discuss this in private," Raidou said. "If we're being late, please go and get us instead of starting anything rash."

"Very well," Bee said.

Raidou left with Hyousuke and two other Konoha-nin you didn't know.

The tension in the room made it hard to breathe, or it could just be the fact that your heart and everything else just got fried. Matatabi was still pumping diligently.

What would happen now? Would they be willing to give up Matatabi and you? Or had you just killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and all this was just an excuse to start a war to settle old tensions.

Around you everyone where pointing swords at everyone else. The Iwa-nin just held their ground, perhaps being afraid of getting caught in the crossfire if they headed for the exit.

Time felt like it was standing still, and your shaking had started to settle more and more as Matatabi did a good job healing you. You needed that as it seemed like no one else thought about providing you with medical attention.

After what felt like an eternity Raidou and the others came down the stairs.

"We've made a decision. We believe that Sota will choose Konoha, so we see no harm in taking your offer," Raidou said.

"Alright, now we just need your answer Sota. You'll not be punished for any of this and you'll make new friends. What happened here will be classified so it won't hurt your chances at integrating into our village. Take your time," Bee said.

What should you do?

You'd said no to his proposal several times now. But this time it was different, this time you'd be sure you'd get to Kumo safely. You wouldn't get punished for trying to defect as Konoha wouldn't chase you down. They wouldn't start a war to get back a rebellious jinchuuriki, no one would be that stupid.

But Kumo just tried to kidnap you. Why? Bee and Yugito thought they'd convince you peacefully, so why not just wait? Or was he just a guy that decided to take matters into his own hand to get some glory at home? And now it was up to Bee to save face and give you a chance out at the same time.

You had no future in Konoha anymore, not after everyone had seen you like this. What you needed to save Itachi was done, there was nothing more you could do.

This was also your only chance to escape Danzo.

There was only one answer you could give and that was to say yes and switch your allegiance, no it was no switch, as Yugito had told you, you belonged to Kumo, so you did nothing wrong by defecting. You were no traitor.

As you opened your mouth to answer, you suddenly lost all control over yourself.

"No. I won't betray my village," someone made you say and you started to move off the body, off the piano and onto the floor again.

Your body didn't manage to stand up properly, so Raidou picked you up on his back and headed towards the exit.

"I knew I could trust you. Time to get Kabuto and Torune so we can get home," he said

As your body nodded your vision went black.

-x-

"Hello Sota, you finally decided to visit me again," Matatabi greeted you.

"Hi. You can stop pretending to not like me now. Thanks for saving my life," you said.

"If I didn't, Kurama would just make fun of me for letting my Jinchuuriki die that easily," she said.

"Like if you care what that grumpy fox says, besides his Jinchuuriki is an idiot so he shouldn't be taunting anyone," you said.

"If you are going to suggest that I'm soft you can show yourself out," she said.

"I'm sorry, you're not soft," you said.

"That's better," she said.

"Could you do me a favour?" You asked.

"Maybe," she replied.

"The seal on my tongue, could you remove it?" You asked.

"I would if I could, but I've no idea how to deal with seals," she said.

"What if you burn it away? Your chakra can damage me right, and you can regenerate parts. So if you did that to my tongue…"

"That sounds like would hurt a lot, but it also sounds like it would work. Though it might just hurt whoever has taken over your body," she said.

"Do it, let them hurt," you said.

"Very well," she said and blue and black chakra began to fly up into the ceiling of the mindscape and away.

She looked quite concentrated, so better not to disturb her.

A minute later it was done and she was right, you felt no pain during any of it.

"Your tongue should be clean now," she said.

You looked down into the water and watch your tongue in your reflection.

"The seal is still there," you said.

"That's because your shape in her doesn't change based on what's happening outside," she said.

"Sorry, I forgot," you said.

"Don't you trust me," she growled.

"Yes I do," you said. "Matatabi, what should I do now? Everyone hates me now. and all I do is to make things worse."

"I don't know. You didn't do anything wrong," she said.

"Of course I did something wrong," you said.

"You tried to kill a guy that stole your food and the other guy tried to kidnap you, so I'd say you were justified. That you humans don't see the same way I don't understand."

"You cannot kill people for stealing your food, that's not why I did it. I tried to kill him to prevent him from killing us in the future," you said.

"I cannot die," she said.

"You live more dangerous than you think. Akatsuki wants to suck you up into the dead husk of the Ten-tailed beast to reawaken it, and then use the Ten-tails to project the Sharingan onto the moon to enslave all of humanity into tiny cocoons and drain their chakra because some alien lady wants her chakra back.

"I forgot how exactly everything went, but that's the gist of it," you explained.

"I don't need your protection and I think that attack caused some brain damage," she said.

"They're more dangerous than you think and doesn't help if you're strong if they capture me," you said.

"I guess losing you would be a loss, you make a good hiding place when I want to be alone," she said.

"Thanks. I just don't know what do to now. Would it even help to kill Danzo? Would I even manage to, I'd need to take him down when he's weak."

"When he's weak, it's too late, you need to prepare now," she said.

"You're right. As soon as my foot fully heals I can bring out my clone to help me, I'm sure he doesn't mind helping out. But at the same time, why am I doing this other than revenge. Everyone will still distrust me. I'm just screwed."

"I know something that would help," she said.

"You know how to make people trust me again?" You asked.

"No, I've something even better. I'll let you rub my ears," she said and rolled around on her back.

You chuckled. Who would have known that the great Matatabi was such a big kitten?

You walked up to her and slowly approached her ear. As you reached into her fur, you noticed how incredibly soft and fluffy her fur was. You had her permission, so it was just to begin scratching her ear. And the result was the loudest purr you had ever heard.

The sound made you quite sleepy, and it didn't take long before you fell asleep on top of her.

"Welcome back Sota," Raidou greeted you.

"What happened?" You asked. From being in the Land of Rice, you were suddenly seated in front of the Hokage your sensei seated next to you.

Looking down at yourself you saw that your hands were clean and you were no longer wearing bloody clothes.

"A Yamanaka took control over your body to make sure you didn't end up in the hands of Kumo. He waited to release you to make sure you wouldn't run off immediately or start attacking your team.," the Hokage explained to you.

"I wouldn't do that. You know I would never have taken that offer, right Sensei?" you looked at him.

"This was my idea. Sorry, but I could not let Kumo get the hands of Matatabi," Raidou told you.

"So all that matters is the cat, not me?" You asked, keeping your eyes at him.

"In this instance yes," Raidou said.

'I hate you, I hate you too. I almost had it, I almost escaped everything, escaped him,' you thought to yourself and curled yourself into a ball on the chair. All you were in this village was a monster that kept the cat secure for the sake of politics.

You heard slow clapping behind you. "Well done Raidou, next time I need to break someone's spirit I will call for your help," Danzo said.

"I'm just explaining him the reality here," Raidou said.

"Sota here are more worth than his tailed-beast."

You looked up at him. Why did that bastard have to be the only one believing in you?

"Stop with that act of yours, I know very well that we see eye to eye. You're just saying that to try to make him loyal to you. This was what I wanted to talk to you about Hokage-sama. Danzo is a bad influence on Sota and I think he's been trying to start a war with Kumo and Iwa with his help," Raidou said.

"Are you insane?" Danzo asked.

"No, I'm serious. First, you have him trying to attack the Iwa kid in his sleep who did nothing wrong other than stealing Sota's food. I don't think Sota here would kill for something like that, or we've much bigger problems on our hands. Then you've got the guy from Kumo that Sota actually managed to kill and landing in the middle fo the room for everyone to see," Raidou said.

"He was going to kidnap me," you protested.

"I'm not sure if I believe you. I think you set him up to that Danzo. I know you're unhappy about the peace deal after the previous war, and this is your chance at rectifying that," he said.

"You really are insane. If I wanted Sota to start a war for me, I would have had him try to blow up Kumo from the inside so we'd start with an advantage, not in the middle of nowhere with Kumo's strongest ninja present. No, I believe Sota when he says they tried to kidnap him. It's not strange knowing he originally came from Kumo," Danzo said and looked at you.

"You don't look shocked Sota? Maybe because they already told you so?" he asked.

You nodded.

"And they asked you to come with them and you said no?" Danzo asked.

You nodded again.

"And they dragged you into their room?"

"Yes, you said.

"He's just nodding along with anything you say, tell us the truth Sota," Raidou said.

"What Danzo is saying is true, Sensei. On the first evening, they dragged me into their room. Told me about how Danzo and Orochimaru kidnapped me when I was two by threatening to release Matatabi if they didn't let me go. How Danzo killed my mother afterwards to tie up loose strings. Asked me to join Kumo and smuggle me out in their laundry bin. I took a nap there and that's why I was gone for hours and you couldn't find me Sensei. The next day before breakfast, someone grabbed me into their room, wouldn't let me go, tried to suffocate me as I wouldn't stop struggling and I was desperate to do something, so I just had to grab something from my bag and hope for the best. I didn't really intend to kill him or destroy parts of the inn, it just happened," you explained.

"Are you still going to distrust him Raidou? What do you think Hiruzen?" Danzo asked.

"From what I've read in Raidou's report and Sota's explanation. I think you're right Danzo, Sota is innocent here and can not be faulted in his actions," the Hokage said.

"What about that Iwa kid?" Raidou asked.

"I had several nightmares before that. I dreamt that he had joined an organization who's out to hunt Jinchuuriki and was attacking Konoha to get me. Then later, I dreamt that they were extracting Matatabi out of me in some sort of ritual. Danzo told me to deal with threats before they could harm me or my friends, so when I saw that Deidara was alone, I took his advice, but I got stopped by Raidou before I could do anything."

"See, a pretty natural explanation," Danzo said. "I did of course not intend that he'd try to kill someone based on nightmares. But we cannot fault him for taking my lessons to heart."

Why couldn't this come from someone else? He'd just use this against you later. 'I scratched your back so now you better do something for me in return or else.'

"Based on that I will conclude no wrongdoing by Sota or Danzo on this mission. I will have a talk with you in private later Raidou about your behaviour on the mission," Hiruzen said.

"My behaviour?" Raidou asked.

"You should have known better than to bring Sota to that inn," Hiruzen said.

"We got ordered to it, I had other plans in mind," Raidou said.

"You could have protested harder, used our connection as leverage."

"You know I don't like to abuse it," he said.

"Your recklessness almost caused two wars, we'll talk about that later," Hiruzen said.

"Not so fast," Danzo interrupted. "I think we need to do something about this now. I recommend an investigation of Raidou here and Aburama Shibi for conspiracy to commit treason."

"That's a very serious accusation Danzo, one that you shouldn't just throw out like that," the Hokage said.

"It's not an accusation, it's a request for an investigation into the matter," Danzo said and threw a stack of paper onto the Hokage's desk. "I have got the paperwork filled out here."

"What's this about?" Raidou asked.

"Everything is in that report. But the most damning case for you is the constant mismanagement of your missions to discredit me. Then comes you covering up Amurame's failed Genjutsu on Sota. That he attacked you was a mistake. He intended for Sota to try to kill me, but instead, his genjutsu mistakenly made Sota think you were me. You can read through the report before you decide Hiruzen, but I don't see how an investigation would hurt."

You didn't like Raidou, but you didn't want to let Danzo get away with his lies either. "Neither Shibi nor Raidou has nothing to do with that. It's all due to the nightmares you gave me after you made me kill Crow!" You yelled at Danzo.

You saw Danzo forming, some hand seals, was that to activate the seal? It was good that you had just had it removed.

"Sure, I had trouble sleeping before that too, but the nightmares came after what you did," you said.

"Shut up!" Danzo yelled at you.

"He tricked me into walking home all bloody, making everyone…"

Danzo bashed his cane into your temple, and a sharp burst of pain ran through your head like a train as you feel off your chair into the floor, head first.

"Danzo!" Hirzuen yelled out.

"I'm just disciplining him. He needs to learn to respect his elders."

"I'm disappointed in you," Hiruzen said. "Based on this and what Raidou has provided me with before, I've decided you to forbid you from any more contact with Sota."

"We've already talked about this, it's not safe from him to experiment with his seals in his apartment."

"Yes, we talked about it and I've not been sitting idly by. I've found some alternative solutions where he won't be a danger to his neighbours, I'll hopefully have it ready in not too long."

"Very well, if you've everything under control I don't mind getting Sota off my hand. I've never had a more ungrateful and spoiled student than him," Danzo said.

"I'll ask you to leave us now and I repeat, stay away from him," Hiruzen said.

"Don't worry Hiruzen, I'm going to be absent from the village for a while so I won't have time for him anyway. If I'm not back in a month, assume me to be dead and follow the required protocols," he said and left the three of you.

Hiruzen turned to your sensei. "And for you Raidou, after the Chuunin exam, you will step out of your role as Jounin-sensei. I also forbid you to have any contact with Sota till then. You're not suited for the job."

"You cannot be serious, I had no problems before Sota joined the team," he said.

"Sota isn't the problem Raidou, he has been on three mission, and the one without you he acted exemplary. He did everything he was told and did not cause any problem when he was alone. I think it is safe to conclude that you're the problem," Hiruzen argued. "And no, this isn't just coming from Danzo. I have had Uchiha Shisui confirm this for me."

"Yes I might not be able to handle him, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to do my job. Inuzuka Hana did a great job during the last Chuunin exam," Raidou said.

"She's the only success of the four students you've had and that's more thanks to her clan than you. Torune doesn't like being away from home, Kabuto refuses to get promoted and both of them shows pacifistic tendencies. And Sota here has almost got killed twice under your watch, only saved by the fact he's a Jinchuuriki. You're a good ninja, Raidou, but you're not suited to this. After the chuunin exam no matter the outcome, you'll be back to your position as my bodyguard. Till then, I want you to focus on preparing Kabuto and Torune for the exam. Is everything clear?"

"Yes my Hokage," Raidou said.

"Both of you leave my office. Sota, someone will show you where you can study when everything is ready. Though if you get caught experimenting on your own before that, the offer will be withdrawn, so behave," Hiruzen said.

You nodded and hurried back out.

As you got outside in the waiting area, your body decided that enough was enough and you laid down on one of the benches.

"Hi Sota, you cannot sleep out here. But I can carry you home if you want?" Genma offered you as he was passing by.

"Yeah," you nodded and climbed up on his back.

"I'll just put a cloak over us so we don't get wet, it's quite stormy outside now," Genmu said. "Okay?"

"Yeah," you mumbled and he proceeded to cover you with his cloak.

"So senpai, how did you mission go?" he asked you.

"You don't know already?" You asked.

"No, should I?" He asked.

"No, please keep it that way. I don't want you to know," you said. "The fewer that know the better."

"I don't usually snoop around in other people's missions, but I'll try to avoid any rumours, I get what you're trying to tell me."

"Thanks," you mumbled.

"Do you need help with anything?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" You asked.

"You don't seem to be okay," he said.

"Would you help me assassinate someone?" You asked.

Genma laughed. "I mean cooking, keeping things tidy etc.?"

"Not really, I just want to go to sleep I think," you said.

"Sure you're not hungry? They sell some delicious tsukune on the way, kind of like dango, just that they're made out of chicken," he offered.

"I want some yeah," you said. "Thanks."

The smell from the food stand told you that you were in for something good. And you had a weakness for food presented as impaled balls.

"Here you go," he said and handed you your stick. "Try not to get too much sauce on my clothes, but if you do, don't worry, they need a wash anyway now."

"Thanks," you said and put one of them in your mouth. They were kind of hot and this was a bad idea. You quickly swallowed it and tried to breathe in as much of the cold air you could.

"I hope you're not eating them whole Sota, it's not dango," Genma said.

"Of course not, I'm only taking small bites at a time."

A bit later you arrived at your doorstep.

"Are you okay with me leaving now?" He asked.

"Yeah. Good night Genma," you said.

"Good night Sota, take care," he said and put you down on the ground and you went inside and jumped in bed.

-x-

You were suddenly back in the rain and then you heard the sound of thunder and saw the lightning flashing.

But unlike before, you were not afraid this time.

"Sota, I want to go home now. I'm afraid," Tomomi said. Wait, how did you know his name?

"Come on, just a bit more, I don't want to go back to the orphanage yet. And you cannot be scared of thunder if you're going to be a ninja with me. You think the fourth was afraid of the weather?" you asked.

Why did you talk about the orphanage? This wasn't a dream, this was a memory. You had no control it seemed like, you just had to watch.

"No, but my family will probably look for me soon, and if they find out that I'm friends with an orphan, they'll…"

"One more time, please?" You asked.

"Okay, but no more. You'll be Oni okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," you said and went to count by a tree.

"One, two, three," you started to count. As you uttered the word "Four", the entire sky lit up and the bouldering sound of the thunder was instant.

"That was close," you mumbled to yourself before continue counting. "Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten."

"Ready?" You yelled out. No reply. You waited a few seconds before trying again. "Ready?"

He was supposed to call back, he wasn't cheating, right? He better not have ditched you and gone home.

You shrugged and turned around to look for him. Around 15 meters away, you saw him lying on the ground with everything around him was chared.

"Wake up Tomomi, it's not funny," you said and walked up to him. On closer inspection, he was… No… No… No…

You had killed him. You had killed your only friend, just because you wanted to play one more round.

-x-

You woke up shaking and crying, and not too long after another strike could be heard.

"Please, please stop," you mumbled and your breathing became heavier.

But the weather gods answered to no one, so as the next strike hit your ears, you crawled under your bed.

Over the next hour, it just kept coming and you were trembling. Then something began to shake in the door.

You grabbed your kunai and laid prepare as your entire body was shivering.

A hooded figure from Root was walking in and it took just a second before they noticed you.

They got down on the floor and looked at you under the bed. "Hi Sota, I'm your friend remember? I didn't expect you to be here."

"Of course I'm here, I live here and I'm supposed to be sleeping, but the weather," you mumbled.

"I just didn't think your friends would let you be here alone at the moment. Everyone knows that you don't handle storms like this well. So I thought they'd come and get you by now."

"They've not," you mumbled. "But I'm fine." But as another thunderous sound could be heard, you crawled up in a ball.

"Come with me, the sound is much less noticeable underground," they suggested.

"I thought Danzo was supposed to stay away from me," you mumbled.

"Yes, Danzo, but not the rest of Root. Come with me please," they said.

"Alright," you mumbled and crawled out from the bed.

"I'm going to pick you up okay?" They asked.

You nodded and they slowly picked you up in their arms and put a cloak over you blocking all vision out but also protecting you from the elements

"Be careful, I don't want you to get hit," you mumbled.

"Don't worry, there is jutsu to protect yourself against lighting strikes, I can teach you one day if you want."

"Thanks, you mumbled."

You had no idea where you were going, but as the weather started to get quieter, you knew you were underground.

After a bit of more walking, they sat you down on the ground. "I just need to talk to someone first. You're not allowed to see anyone here without the mask on, so I'm going to blindfold you. Don't take it off, Danzo will punish both of us harshly if he finds out."

You nodded and let them do what they needed to do with any fuss. It was a bit uncomfortable sitting blindfolded alone in a place like this, but your friend wouldn't put you in danger.

A few minutes later they came back. "Do you need to go to the bathroom before you go to bed again?"

"No," you said.

"Alright, take my hand and I'm going to guide you to where you're going to sleep," they said.

A few seconds later they'd dragged you into another room as evident by a door closing right behind you.

"You can take it off now," they said.

It was good to see again and unlike your own room down here, this was much smaller, and the walls here were clothed with wooden planks and had a much nicer atmosphere.

In front of you stood a child around your height, if not a bit taller, with their mask on.

"Hi," you said.

"They're not supposed to talk to you," your friend said. "You'll take the bottom bed," they said at pointed to the bunk bed.

Before your friend left, they whispered in your ear. "Don't worry about them, unlike the people above us, they know little about what you've done. Here no one will look at you as a monster."

You nodded and jumped in the bed and after several days without proper sleep, it was no hard job falling asleep.

-x-

Next morning you felt quite well-rested as you woke up. You had almost forgotten how this felt and now you were hungry for some breakfast.

Your roommate was already up and was sitting on his desk. As he heard you waking up, he got up and told you, "follow me".

"Uh," you uttered before getting up. It was probably best to listen to them, not because you saw them as a threat, but because you didn't want to cause any issues for them or have them struggle to figure out what to do.

No blindfold this time, something was up here and you couldn't put your finger on what.

You followed them through the dirt tunnels till you reached who you hoped was your friend.

"Hi Sota, awake finally. Given how long you've been out, I assume you've slept well tonight?"

"Yeah," you replied.

"It's almost lunch now, I assume you're hungry. You mind eating with the others?" They asked.

You weren't exactly sure. Did you want to stay here more than necessary? Maybe you could get to know this place better.

"Sure," you replied.

"Alright follow me," your friend said.

"Is there anything I can call you?" You asked them. It was getting a bit annoying to just think about them as your friend. You'd lots of friends, or at least you'd like to tell yourself that.

"You can call me Sensei, it's what the others here call me."

"Alright Sensei," you replied as you entered the cafeteria.

"Sit with me at the end of the table and don't talk to any of them," Sensei said.

You nodded and sat down on the bench opposite them. About twelve other children were seated around the table, though the seat next to both your and Sensei was empty.

He greeted the food and people started to fill their bowls with stew and sent around the pans.

You filled your bowl and handed it over to the next person. It smelled good. It was nice to see that not everything down in Root was terrible.

"But as you ate, you couldn't fail to notice that the glanced your way, there were somethings their creepy masks didn't hide.

That was until one brave soul opened his mouth. "Sensei, who is that?"

"Have you already gotten the rules for today?" he asked them.

"No, Sensei," they replied.

You looked at him. What was up with that unfriendly tone?

You continued eating without saying anything, but the lack of answer only seemed to make them more curious.

"Is it true that he killed Crow?" Another one asked and it suddenly got quiet.

Sensei sighted. "You're going to get toilet duties for this, but guess I'll answer what questions you have. "This is Sota, and yes he killed Crow."

"Why did you tell them that, you want to make them hate me?" You whispered to them.

"Why do you think they'll hate you? Do you know why your roommate was alone tonight? Crow sent them to the infirmary a week ago after a quite brutal training session. He was universally hated among the other kids here," Sensei whispered back.

Sensei stood up to address them. "Crow acted with his own selfish interests in mind and abused his position so got punished for it. Anything more you wonder about?"

No one said anything but just went back to their food.

It was almost as you didn't notice it, but the Root kids on your side of the bench had moved further away from you. Why?

After finishing your bowl and getting a second serving. You sat there and waited for the other to finish.

When it was just one left eating, Sensei stood up. "Mealtime is over, everyone, do your chores and meet up for training in an hour."

As the other left the table you looked at Sensei. "What did you do that, he wasn't finished?"

"He was making everyone else wait, he should learn to be quicker next time," he answered. "Your roommate is responsible for cleaning up in here, will you help him since he's alone?"

It didn't look like much so you nodded.

"Thanks, put your dishes in the opening over there," he said.

"Sota will help you clean off the tables and benches while you're mopping the floors," he explained to the other boy.

On the table into the kitchen stood a bucket with soapy water. You grabbed it and got to cleaning.

After everything was cleaned, you followed Sensei to their room.

"Do you want to go back home now, or do you want to follow us on the training exercises. You have got an exam to prepare for in not too long, it can be helpful. You need to show that you've more skills than just blowing people up."

"I know more than that," you mumbled back.

"Then show them what you can do," they said.

"Alright, I can stay a bit more. But first here is something I want to ask," you said.

"Go ahead."

"How can you live with yourself, leading them, when you know that half of them will be ordered by Danzo to kill their partner to remove their emotions?"

"Sota, where have you heard this?" They asked.

"Answer me!" You yelled at them.

"Sota."

"Answer me before I break them out from here!" You yelled.

"Alright, if you're fine with me getting punished by Danzo if he finds out," they said. "You don't see me as a friend?"

"I'm not sure anymore. I'll take the blame if Danzo figures out, I'll tell them that I threaten you and I'll take the punishment for you," you said.

"I'm disappointed with you Sota, but fine. Just don't tell any of the others, okay?"

You nodded.

"It is all a lie, smoke and mirrors," they said.

"So you're saying that Danzo won't make them fight to the death?"

"Yes and no. He'll make them think that they're fighting to the death. But the fight is fake, either done with genjutsu, clones or whatever other trick Danzo decides is the best for the duo in question. The test is to see if you put Root over your partner. If both passes, you'll stay as parters through the next stage. If one fails, you're split up. That's simple. Danzo cannot afford to throw away half of the kids here just to mentally scar the other half."

"How do you know that Danzo is telling the truth? That he didn't claim that your partner failed the test and separated you to cover up that you killed him?" You asked.

"Why would he do that? Besides, both of us passed and I know for sure that he survived," they said.

"I haven't seen them down here so I assumed they…," you said.

"They died a few days ago," Sensei said.

"I'm sorry," you replied. "What happened?"

"You killed them," they replied.

"Crow was your partner?" You asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't know, I didn't mean to."

"Didn't I say to not be sorry? Crow was a sadist that put his own urges above Root, he changed a lot since we were young. One of the problems with Danzo's test is that it doesn't separate sadism from loyalty. So Danzo intended his fights against you to be a death sentence."

"But what if I didn't manage to kill him?" You asked.

"Danzo is nothing but persistent."

"How are you able to tell me all this, doesn't the seal stop you from talking about things like this?" You asked.

"The seal is quite bad at its job. It's more the physicological effect. Danzo can activate it manually when in your presence to make it seem like it is more effective than it is. I'm sure you've noticed the same?"

"Yeah, it seemed to fail most of the time. Still glad I got it removed through."

"Do Danzo know?" They asked.

"Yeah, he hit me with his cane, as usual. I hate him," you said.

"Danzo would probably be less harsh towards you if you joined us."

"How would he be less harsh with more control over me?"

"Punishing you too harshly will affect the other children here. Danzo would never order any punishment that the rest would see as unjust. It would just lower morale and make them less loyal to him. He prefers making his agents feel they deserve the punishment.

"But when you're alone, he has no boundaries," Sensei explained.

"Maybe you're right. But I still don't want to lose my friends on the outside."

"You've three friends on the outside that you're growing more and more distant to, and here you've potentially fifteen that share a lot more experiences with you. Root doesn't mean you cannot make friends, it just means you cannot put those friendships over Root."

"I'm not sure, maybe this is the solution. But Danzo is not allowed near me anymore," you said.

"You just have to convince the Hokage that this is the right thing. That's what Danzo has been waiting for all along anyway. And we both know that Danzo's little speech about how he was glad to get rid of you was just an act."

"I need to think about it. Maybe this is a chance to get a clean slate," you said.

"There is no need to hurry, it won't happen till Danzo is back anyway. So let me show you where we'll hold our training today."

You nodded and followed them out and through the corridors till you arrived at a bit smaller arena than what you had used against Crow.

One of the kids had already arrived and was sitting by the wall drawing.

Wait… that wasn't Sai, right? A closer look revealed his pale white skin. So yeah, it was most likely him.

You sat down next to him and looked down on his drawing. It was a smiling boy, one of the other children down here for sure. Though you could tell it wasn't Shin.

"You're good," you said. If we made any reaction you couldn't see it behind his mask.

Minutes went and he filled in more and more details. You didn't know who he was drawing, but they looked too innocent to be locked up her by Danzo.

When he was finished, he rolled the drawing over to a blank page.

Without saying anything, he pointed to a spot in front of him. It wasn't hard to understand what he wanted. So you sat in front of him letting him draw you.

Things turned out well for Sai in the end. But what would happen if you somehow let him free earlier or if you joined him down here?

It was impossible to tell, so you just kept looking at his mask, looking to see you could get glims of any emotion, but you got nothing.

As you sat there, more and more of the remaining children arrived in the room.

Just in time before Sensei was going to start the lesson, Sai turned around the drawing he had been working on.

He was good, but why did he have to draw you so sad? Couldn't he put a bit more life in your eyes?

You gave him a small smile before standing up again. "You're good."

No reply. Why couldn't they talk to you? Why was it so important for Danzo that you neither saw their faces nor talked to them?

Not sure what you'd talk to them about though.

As Sensei walked up to the front of the room, the other children lined up in pairs behind each other.

Should you join them in the line, should you wait for instructions, would everyone think you're stupid for just standing there.

"I hope everyone has their swords?" Sensei said. "Sota, please come up here please."

You did as told.

"Where is your sword?" He asked you.

"I lost it," you said.

"Since you're not a part of Root, I'll let it slide, but you will have to fight without one,"

"Don't worry, I don't need it," you said. And as you said it, it was almost like you saw the rest of them tense up. Probably just your imagination.

Sensei went up to Sai. "Come here," he said and lead him into the arena.

"You've kept secrets from Root and for that, you're going to get punished. Fight him," he said and pointed at you.

Sai tried to take a step back, but Sensei stopped him.

"Don't show him that you're afraid. And why are you even afraid, you have a sword and he's unarmed?" Sensei asked.

"He killed Crow, so how can I defeat him?" Sai asked.

"That's for to figure out. Sota lost twice before he could defeat Crow, no obstacle is too high if you can set your mind to it," Sensei said.

Sai nodded.

Sensei then walked up to you and whispered "Do not cause him any serious injuries or I'll have here everyone attack you. Don't use any explosives and focus on hand-to-hand. But don't go easy on them either, this is supposed to be training for both fo you."

You nodded.

Sensei got out of the marked-up arena. "Get ready… Start," he yelled out.

Sai had gotten ready in a defensive stance with his sword.

There was no point delaying it. You ran towards him, ignored the sword and landed a kick right in his stomach sending him backwards. You rushed towards him and put a foot on his back, preventing him from getting up.

"Sota, you win, you can get off him now," Sensei said and turned to Sai. "Get up."

Sai got off the ground without too much difficulty but was clutching his stomach. Sensei walked up to him and began to heal him. A few seconds later Sai looked much better.

"Now, where is your sword?" He asked.

Sai looked around, he hadn't noticed your little trick. "I… I don't know."

"You know the rules, you're not supposed to lose your weapon," Sensei said.

Sai stepped a few step backs, looking tenser than ever.

You sighed and tried looking for the seal that held his tanto and quickly emptied it.

"Here," you said and held it out for him to grab.

"Are you sure about this Sota? If you take his, Danzo won't punish you for losing yours."

"Yes, I'm sure. I can take whatever punishment Danzo dishes out better than him."

Sensei turned to Sai. "You're lucky now, take it."

Sai slowly approached you and carefully grabbed his tanto. It looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind. He put his sword away and went to join the others along the wall.

"I think you should take on the rest too," Sensei said.

"Do I have to?" You asked.

"You are a strong opponent and it will be a good exercise for both you and them. The Chuunin-exam might have you engage in multiple fights in rapid succession," they explained.

You sighed and nodded. You weren't going to engage in much hand-to-hand during the exam, but rather scare them with explosives and any other trick you could come up with by than. Like fire. But maybe, maybe there was some use for it.

"Alright, who's next?" Sensei asked the group.

No one showed any sign of volunteering.

"Don't make me pick one of you," they said.

One of the children raised their hand carefully. "Excuse me, but how am I going to defeat him if he's just going to take my sword. I don't want to lose mine."

"I see you're volunteering. And to answer your question, don't use your sword."

"But, aren't we supposed our swords?" The kid asked

"And that's what we're doing here," Sensei said. "When facing someone like Sota that your sword doesn't work against, you need to adapt. You cannot just use it anyway because that's what you were supposed to do."

"But, he's still too strong."

"You and the others have eleven more tries to take him down, all you need to do is to make it a bit easier for the others to defeat him. Expose his weaknesses, tire him out. I won't heal him until it is over. So do your best and I'll give you all a reward if any you can take him down," Sensei told the kid before turning to you. "And I will know if you're letting them win, so you better not try anything."

You nodded.

The kid seemed to hesitate a bit, but he took one look at Sensei before getting ready to fight.

One after another you took them down. They were more skilled than you, but it didn't matter when you were much more durable and a bit stronger than them.

As the last kid was on the ground you went up to him and offered a hand and he grabbed it without hesitation.

"Good work Sota," Sensei said and walked up to the boy you just defeated to heal him.

After he was done he turned to the group that was sitting along the wall.

"Good work everyone, even if it was still not enough. I'll let you rest a bit before we continue with another round of fights, this time you'll be fighting each other with your swords like normal," Sensei said.

"Come with me Sota," they said and you followed them back to their room.

-x-

"What do you think about today?" Sensei asked.

"What was the point of making me fight all of them? They're afraid of me and you're only making it worse!" You yelled at them.

"Sota, you got it all wrong," they put a hand on your head.

"What?"

"I made them fight you to show them that you're not dangerous. They're all fine, not much harder than what they're used to against each other. You showed them compassion by giving back that sword even if that would cause you to be punished. And most importantly, they trust you as one of them now." Sensei said. Take this they said and handed you a new tanto. "You deserve it, I won't tell Danzo that you lost your original one."

"Thanks, I just feel it is cursed, it's just getting me in trouble," you said.

"I can't tell you if your previous sword was cursed or not, but I assure you that this one is clear of any curses," Sensei said.

"Can you really curse items?" You asked.

"I don't know, all I know is that Danzo doesn't know that you've been given that sword and I've not cursed it, so I wouldn't worry.

"I guess. Do you think joining Root is the best option for me?" You asked.

"I cannot tell you what to think. I might be a bit biased, as I've been here all my life. But looking at how you have it on the outside, I wouldn't trade my place with you. I cannot guarantee that you'll make friends with the rest, but if you put in the effort, I think you've good chances. Danzo might send you out on a few missions, but other than that I think you won't get special treatment from him, so you won't have to deal much more with his harsh behaviour."

"I think you might be right, but I need some time to make a decision," you said.

"No need to rush. I'll check come on you tomorrow if that's okay. If you want I can help you train for the exam. I can provide access to some more discrete training location, away from people if you so want?"

"It's okay, thanks," you said.

Sensei nodded and put on your blindfold. "Hold my hand I'll guide you out."

You nodded and grabbed their hand. Piggybacking was probably going to be easier, but you were not going to ask for it. So you just let yourself be dragged through the corridors.

Minutes later a door opened and you could feel the fresh air entering your lungs.

"You can take off the blindfold now," they said.

You had to squint as bright light hit your eyes. "See you tomorrow Sensei," you said and left.

The idea that you'd start to sleep well at night was quickly broken as you woke up in your bed after another nightmare. Not long after you heard knocking on the door.

"Come in!" you yelled.

With a short click in the lock, Sensei opened the door.

"Hi Sota, not sleeping well I see?" They asked.

"No," you mumbled back.

"Breakfast is starting soon, want to come back down?" They asked.

"I'm not sure," you replied.

"Good morning Sota, and whoever you are," you turned around and notice the Hokage standing in your doorway.

"Good morning Hokage-sama. I'll wait outside so you can talk with Sota in private," Sensei said.

"I'm here to talk to you. I thought I told Danzo to stay away from him, and yet my ANBU saw you taking him away in the middle of the night yesterday," Hiruzen said.

"Ah… I can see where we misunderstood each other, I'm not doing this on Danzo's orders. If you can keep this a secret from him, it would be nice. I saw how Danzo treated him and decided to befriend him to make things a bit easier for him."

"I do not care. I gave my orders loud and clear," Hiruzen said.

"Sota," do you want to tell him something?" Sensei asked. "About why he should let you?"

"I've finally been able to sleep down there. Everywhere else I just get nightmares. Please let me sleep down there," you asked.

Hiruzen just stood there without saying anything, just thinking.

"I will allow it. You can come back to get him when he's going to bed," he said.

"He's supposed to have his leg checked up today. Besides, if he's going to compete in the Chuunin exam he needs more training. I can help him so he's able to do more than just blow up his opponents. Unless you've someone else in mind?"

"I don't, but I'm sure he can ask his friends. Both Shisui and Itachi are both competent ninja," Hiruzen argued.

"Are we doing what's best for Sota or what you're the most comfortable with?" Sensei asked.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that you're trying to sabotage his training," Sensei said.

"I'm trying to what is best for him. I will let you supplement his training, but it will be on my terms. He is to be outside of Root for at least 12 hours each day. Uchiha Mikoto has expressed a desire for him to eat lunch with her and Itachi, so he'll join them every other day when it works for her. I also wish him to spend more time with Shisui so I will keep him in the village for a while. I suggest Sota joining him for food in the evenings when he's not visiting Itachi and Mikoto. I'll talk to them when I leave here. This will only last as long as Danzo is out of the village. This is my only offer."

"I've no objections, I didn't intend to keep him there all the time. So what do you say Sota, does this sound okay?"

"Yes. I just hope I'm not too much of a bother for them," you said.

"Don't worry about that, Shisui will do what I tell him to do without complaints. I'll tell him to come and get you later for an evening meal. Make sure he's back in time, Root," Hiruzen said.

"I will, thank you Hokage-sama. Now, let's go Sota."

-x-

"It looks fine," the Root medic said as they were looking at your foot. "Your heel is back, so now you need to just wait for the rest of the foot to grow out, it shouldn't take more than a week or two I think now."

"Finally," you replied.

"You no longer need a prosthetic, it will just be in the way. Some tall boots will give you the support you need. I've got a pair for you. Make sure to fasten the straps properly," they said and put on your new footwear.

You got up to try them out and it was a bit weird at first, but you would get used to it.

"Thanks."

"Unless you get some issues, you don't need to show up here anymore," they said.

"Come with me Sota, there is something I want to show you," Sensei said.

You nodded and followed them through the hallways before stopping by one of the doors.

"Let me lift you up so you can see properly," they said and grabbed you.

Through the window in the door, you saw a grey-haired boy hooked up to some medical machinery.

"Is that…"

"Yes, Shin was what you called him right? Danzo got suspicious about how you knew him and his partner, so he ordered me to spy on them, too see if they have had any contact with you. We found nothing, but I did learn that Shin was hiding that he had breathing issues. He seemed to be afraid to tell anyone as he feared being cast aside for being weak."

"And?" You asked.

"The medics found a tumour in his lungs, but they managed to remove it successfully and he's recovering. I've to thank you, without you making Danzo suspicious, I don't think we would have found it before it was too late. You might not think that Danzo cares about people, I kind of doubt he does. But him caring about his assets and him caring about people around him produces the same result.," he said and put you down on the ground.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"To help you make an informed decision, and tempt you away from breaking these kids free."

"Why don't they get the choice about what they want, why is that reserved for me?" You asked.

"What do you think they'd choose if given the choice, go into the unknown, or stick with what's now their family? The only reason to give you a choice is that there are arguments for both sides."

"I mean, why didn't Danzo just put me in Root after he kidnapped me from Kumo?" You asked.

"I don't know, if he didn't it was probably because he wasn't allowed. Why does this matter?"

"Because no matter how nice you can present this place, you're still forcing them into a harsh life."

"How is this any different from how things are with you? Did you think you had any choice about attending the academy? Do you think the clan kids in your class had any choice? The village might be bigger than the tunnels here, but you're still not allowed to leave it without permission. And by the time any of your classmates has finished the academy, the village has ensured that no competent student would pick any other life than what of a ninja. And tell me Sota, do you think these kids live a harsher life than most other orphans?"

"I don't know," you said.

"You're a smart and competent kid Sota, but you don't know everything. I think I should take you back outside now."

"All right Sensei," you said and let them put on your blindfold.

-x-

Back home it was time bringing back an old friend. A few hand-seals later and your clone appeared.

"Hi," you greeted them.

Without warning, they punched you in the face.

"You are a complete idiot! How can you think about joining him?" He said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," the said and embraced you in a hug. "You are stupid, but I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay," you said. "But I'm not stupid. Joining Root is the best choice here, I spent time there, it didn't seem that bad."

"You are an idiot," your clone said and took a step back. "Don't you see that Danzo wanted you to see all this? Your so-called Sensei is working for Danzo. I didn't' realize it at first, but now it is clear, it is all a trick. They're pretending to be your friend, just like Itachi pretended at first."

"No, you're wrong. They arrived to help me every time Danzo hurt me. If Danzo wanted to hurt me, why would he send someone after him to build me back up again?" You asked.

"No, that's why Sensei is sus, they knew when to comfort you because Danzo told them so. He wanted to push you further but didn't want to break you. And having Sensei help, meant that he could easier lure you into Root. Exactly what's going on now. And you're falling for it, almost giving in."

"No, you're wrong. Danzo couldn't have known that I'd be hiding scared under my bed," you argued.

"It was brewing up to a storm before he left," your stupid clone said.

"I would rather think that they're my friend and that they remembered, rather than having Danzo be the only one who would care to check up me."

"The only reason Danzo would think about it would be to manipulate you, he does not care, nothing he does he does because he cares about you," Your clone said before he stopped up to think for a moment. "Maybe Sensei really is our friend. They seemed real, if it was all a show, he might be less strict with the other kids. He reminds me a bit of Itachi, just not knowing better, so he does weird things because that what he thinks is normal. You win, I guess."

"Thanks, for the support. I hate Danzo," you said.

"We should kill him."

"I know," you said.

"No, we should really kill him. Make a plan, put everything together and execute both the plan and him."

"I don't know how," you said.

"We'll blow him up," your clone suggested, raising his hand in the air for emphasis.

"We cannot just blow him up, he'll dodge and see it coming, run away or do whatever other tricks he can come up with. No, we need to trap him," you said.

"Give me something to write with so we can write this down."

"We're not writing down our plans to kill someone," you said.

"No, we're writing down what we need to learn. We can pretend it is to prepare us for the exam. And figuring out how to trap him can be explained by us wanting to keep him out," he said.

"We also need to attack him for a long time, he might have gotten his Sharingan implanted in his arm already. So we need to keep going till all his charges have run out."

"So we're just going to throw explosives at him for several minutes?" Your clone asked.

"No, we don't have enough kunai for that. I reckon we need to attack him for ten minutes, and if we hit him with one every second, that requires 600 kunai, and we don't have access to that much," you said.

"So, we just collect tons of rocks and glue our explosives on them and throw that at Danzo?" Your clone suggested.

"Hmm… that is actually a very good idea."

"Thanks, you owe me a dango for that," he said.

"I thought we were in this together?"

"Don't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same if you were in my position?" He asked.

"You're right, I'll buy some for us after I've eaten with Shisui," you said. "Do you want to check that it works and collect rocks if it works?"

"Yup, but you better pay me in dango," he said.

That clone of yours, he's more you than you.

"Deal, we should have plenty of money to spend."

-x-

"So anything new happened since the Hokage is worried about you?" Shisui asked as he put the food on the table.

"He's worried I'll want to join Root," you answered.

"You don't really consider it do you?" He asked and put some rice and salmon on your plate.

"I did, but I talked to someone who made me change my mind, so now I've other plans in mind," you said and took a bit of the food. It was good.

"I'm glad to hear that, whoever you're talking to, you should listen to them more."

"Maybe," you said. As Sasuke, Shisui's cat, jumped up on the table.

"Can I give him some?" You asked.

"Go ahead," he said. "Just remember to eat some yourself."

"Of course," you said and grabbed a piece of salmon and let Sasuke eat from your fingers. "I'm glad at least one Sasuke likes me."

"If you think Sasuke will ever eat salmon from your fingers like that, you'll be disappointed. I don't think even Itachi would get away with that."

"I didn't mean that. I just wish he wouldn't be so hostile towards me."

"Be patient and don't try to worry too much about that. Do you want to talk about what happened on your mission?" He asked.

"What is there to talk about?" You asked.

"Your first kill can be hard, especially for kids your age."

"He wasn't my first," you said.

Shisui just looked at you, waiting for clarification.

"Danzo made me kill Crow."

Shisui got up from his chair. "He was an asshole, but he didn't deserve to die."

"That was what I told Danzo," you said.

"It's okay," he said and hugged you.

"I'm fine. I've found a way to deal with my sleeping issues too now."

"You're not fine, you might not see it right now, but it does affect you," he said.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Do you think you can help me train for the Chuunin exam? I want to get better at the body-flicker. My foot has almost healed now, so it should go much easier."

"Sure I'll help you. But are you sure you don't want to wait a bit? Maybe take it in a year when your life is less stressful?"

"I want to do it now I think, I don't see why I should wait. I might not have a team after this exam. The Hokage is disbanding the team after the exam."

"Oh, maybe you will have much better luck with your next team. If you stay a genin, you'll put on a team with other genin, so sure you don't want to skip this?"

"Who says I'll actually get promoted? But you have a point, I'll think about it. But mind teaching me the body-flicker anyway?"

"I'll teach you Sota, don't worry," Shisui smiled at you.

-x-

It was a much less eventful evening down at Root than the day before. Your temporary roommate's partner was still not back so you slept in the bottom bunk bed again and managed to get a night of sleep without issue.

The next day you joined them in some taijutsu exercise before you headed out again for lunch.

-x-

"Nice to see you again," you heard Mikoto speak from the kitchen as you arrived together with Itachi. "Just sit down you two, the food is almost ready."

"Thanks," you said and almost before you could sit down, she came carrying in with the food. A plate of onigiri just like last time.

"So how are you Sota?" She asked.

"I'm fine, after everything that has happened I feel like nothing can take me down anymore."

"I'm glad to hear, but you should try to be more careful, your luck won't last forever."

"Thanks. Itachi, I'm going to be nominated for the next Chuunin-exam, do you think I should take it? Shisui was a bit unsure so I'd like a second opinion."

"I say go for it. It's not so hard that people make it out to be. I competed alone and got knocked out in the semi-finals. I could probably have taken it a few years earlier if I were allowed," he explained.

"Shisui was more thinking that if I waited I might be put on another genin team, which would be better for me."

"Don't worry about that, being a Chuunin doesn't prevent you from being put alongside genin. People respected me a lot more after I got promoted. When I was a genin, my teammates just saw me as that little kid no matter how well I performed. So I don't regret it at all"

"You have a point I guess," you said.

"Itachi, Sota is not you. Just because you managed this well doesn't mean he will. I hope you don't mind, but I've got a few words on my own here. It's the Hokage that wants you to compete right?" Mikoto asked.

"I think so."

"Have you thought about why he wants you to compete?"

"Not really."

"Think about it before you say yes. Talk to that sensei of yours," she said.

"I don't want to see him, I don't think he wants to see me either and he's kind of forbidden to see me."

"I'll say do it anyway. You won't be the youngest Chuunin, but from my knowledge, you'll be the youngest to compete in the exam and that should really worry you. I don't think that they don't have your best interests in mind. So I want you to promise me one thing, do not accept the offer before you get a proper explanation for why you should join. Ask them about what I, Shisui and Itachi have told you. If they refuse to answer, refuse to attend. Is that okay?"

"I'm not sure," you said.

Mikoto flashed her Sharingan. "Is that clear?"

"Yes," you mumbled.

"Mother, please don't scare him," Itachi said.

"If he cannot handle me, he has no place in the Chuunin-exam. Eat up and I'll bring in the dango."

"I know you mean well Mikoto, thanks," you said and took the last bite of your rice ball.

"Thanks for the trust Sota. I see that you're finished, I'll go and get the dessert," she said and left the table.

"Itachi, do you think you can teach me some fire Jutsu?" You asked.

"Sure, Sasuke has already learnt how to do it, so we don't have to worry about him getting too mad at us. But we should probably do it while he's at school."

"Thanks," you said and smiled at him.

-x-

You knocked on Raidou's door and waiting in anticipation.

"Oh, it's you. Come in," Raidou said as he opened the door.

You took off your shoes and entered his home and followed him to his couch.

"What do you want Sota?"

"Just some things I want to talk about, do you know where Genma lives and could you tell me his favourite food?"

"Yes, we're friends, but promise me to not cause him any problems will you?" He said.

"I will try, it's not like I'm trying to cause trouble."

"I guess I'll just have to take it. If I say something more, I'll just jinx it," he said and got up to look for something.

"I'm sorry."

"Here is his address," he said and handed you a piece of paper. "And he likes pumpkin soup, you'll find it near the other food stands."

"Thanks. I was also wondering about the Chuunin exam. I was talking to Itachi's mother, and she kind of advised me to drop out."

"May I ask why?" He asked.

"I might not be ready at the moment and the question about why the Hokage wanted me to compete was raised."

"You're good, so having you compete is a great way of advertising the village as a force to be reckoned. Personally, I want to see you compete so I can have Kabuto promoted before I leave the team."

"Can't you just find someone else to step in? I'm not sure if I want to graduate myself, I think the best choice is to stay a genin so I'll be put on a team with other genin.

"I don't think I can find anyone to take the exam with those two, they're not very attractive partners for anyone that wants to get promoted. But with you with them, you can at least motivate Kabuto to keep going."

"There is no guarantee we'll even get that far. Will Torune's father even allow him to be in the alone in the forest with me there?"

"No he won't and I won't let Kabuto be in the forest with you either. But the Hokage has found a workaround, if enough people fail in the first round, there will not be any need for a second round."

"Oh," you exclaimed. He really had that little faith in you.

"I'm going to protect my team as long as I've you three. And as of now, you've shown yourself to be the least trustworthy of you three."

"Why do you trust Kabuto and not me? You've not even looked into the possibility that he might be a spy. I'm telling you, that's why he keeps giving up. Wouldn't it at least comfort you to know he's innocent, why object to having him investigated?"

"I will not put him through that!" He yelled the last word at you.

He sighed and held rested his head on the table. "After Danzo's little stunt, my friends have been questioned about me. Asking about every single detail, if there is anything that can point to me being a traitor. If I've expressed any dislike towards the village, the Hokage or my job. If they've seen me lurking around at night where I shouldn't be. If I've been acted strange, nervous. And then I've been interrogated about every mission report I've written the last years. I will not put Kabuto through that just because of your made-up accusations towards him. Please please me alone. You're a bad luck charm that has given me nothing but misery."

You took one last look at him before heading outside. There was nothing you could do to make him change his mind at the moment.

You felt bad for him and if it wasn't for Danzo's stupid accusation, you might convince him to figure out the truth about your teammate.

-x-

"This better be the right address", you mumbled to yourself as you stood outside Genma's apartment. You took a deep breath and knocked on the door while trying to not drop the pumpkin soup.

"Oh hi Sota, is that for me," Genma said and pointed to the take-away you had brought with you.

You nodded.

"You've done your research I see, I love this. Come in," he said and patted your head.

"Thanks," you said and took off your shoes and walked inside.

"So anything I can help you with?" He asked as he unpacked his food.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could teach me some kind of barrier seal, so I can prevent someone from entering a place?"

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to teach you that," he said.

"I need it to protect myself from Danzo."

"But if I don't ask, I won't know if I'm not allowed," he said.

"I don't want to cause you trouble."

"Don't worry, if anyone is unhappy about it, they'll just give me a warning and tell me to ask next time."

"Thanks."

"Let me go get my stuff," he said.

A minute later he came back carrying a box.

"Take a look at these," he said and handed you a small stack of seals and went back to eating more.

Four identical ones with one last that were different.

"Can you guess how they're laid out?" He asked.

You nodded and put one in the middle of the table and the other four diagonally away from it, creating an X.

"Good," he said after another spoonful of soup. "This can be used to block people from entering in the direction it is placed, I'm sorry I don't have anything for you the other way. But you know how to make shadow clones right? Have them place it on the outside before bed and you should be good."

The plan was to trap Danzo inside with you, so it didn't matter that it only worked one side. You only need to stop him from escaping while you killed him.

"I'm glad to see your old happy face. Just let me finish the rest and I'll show you how it's made and used."

You nodded and watched him take the last spoonful of soup and set the cup away.

"Alright, I'm going to do one stroke at a time and you'll follow me, okay?"

"Yes," you replied and got a brush and something to draw on from your bag. "I'm ready."

"Good."

Over the next minutes, he showed you each stroke and when to apply chakra for each of the two seals.

"Good work Sota," he said and tousled your hair. "Just make another one of the side seals and we can test it out."

You got to work and soon after you'd another copy.

"Don't I need four?" You asked.

"You need an even number of seals placed opposite each other. If placed correctly, the more the better, but four strikes a good balance and is the easiest to place," he explained.

"Got it."

Genma got up and closed the door into the kitchen. "Put the centrepiece on the door and the two other on the wall."

You nodded and did as told.

"Now channel some chakra into the seals on the side. The more, the stronger, but for the sake of this exercise, just put a tiny bit into one of them and a lot more into the other."

You nodded and channelled the required chakra into the seals.

"And the last thing you need to do is to channel a bit of chakra into the seal on the door to activate it."

You touched it and give it a bit of charka as it glowed up, forming lines to the other seals before going dark again.

You looked at him.

"That's supposed to happen, don't worry. So let us try it out. Please open the door," he said.

You tried both pulling and pushing on the door, but it wouldn't budge. Would this work on the special doors down in root, or only normal doors?

"You've got an easier time getting through the wall than the door right now unless you remove the seals."

"But there is another catch isn't it?" You asked.

"Yes, you can easily get through the other way, and you can remove the seals. Let me show you," Genma said.

He pulled on the side you'd pushed a lot of chakra into. "This one is strong, it requires a lot of chakra if I want to pull it off.

"However," he said and moved onto the other side and ripped it off as if it is nothing. "It doesn't matter if not all of the sides are secure. And with one side removed, the door can be opened again. This is why you should use four seals, and remember that it is only as strong as the weakest side. You can also deactivate the seals by channelling enough chakra into the middle one. But this is much more chakra intensive and only viable if the other seals are weak."

"I got it, thanks. Though it will probably require a lot of Chakra to keep Danzo out."

"You're clever, you might figure something better out. I'm sorry I don't have anything more convenient for you."

"It's good, thanks. If I may ask, have Raidou ever talked about me?"

"He tells me that you're a good kid that makes terrible decisions, nothing more."

Was that even true?

"Something wrong Sota?" Genma asked.

"No. I think I should go now."

"Wait one moment," he said and went for his pocket. "Here."

You looked at the money he put in your hands. "What's this for?"

"For the food you brought me. I appreciate the gesture, but you shouldn't have to feel like you need to buy me anything to ask me for help. You don't build a strong village if we cannot help each other without expecting compensation."

"Thanks, I still want to do something in return for you."

"You did that by bringing me the soup, that's a favour enough even if you're not paying for it. Bye Sota and good luck."

-x-

On the way home, you brought with you a couple of sticks of dango to share with your clone. And hopefully, he'd made some progress today.

As you walked in, you saw a pile of rocks in the middle of the floor.

"Hi I'm back, did you figure out something?" You asked your clone and handed him one of your dango sticks.

"Yeah, the plan worked fine, let me show you," he said took a big bite of the dango.

"Not in here," you said.

"Of course not, let me just finish this and we can go out," he said and took another bite.

You smiled at him and began eating your dango.

When both of you were done, he made sure to put a few seals in his pocket and signalled to you to follow him out.

-x-

You arrived with him to an empty training ground.

"Ready?" He asked.

You nodded.

He took a seal and a moment later, a rock appeared and shoot forward about two-three meters before it blew up.

"Good work, I'm impressed," you said.

"Thanks, it was easier than I thought, mostly just things we've done before, just put together differently. You owe me dango for this."

Wasn't that the dango you had just given him? It didn't matter, you were hungry for more and you were stupid for thinking one was enough earlier.

"Alright, I'll buy us one more on the back home. Just go ahead of me, so people won't be too stranged out by seeing us together."

He nodded and ran ahead as you went to buy more dango.

"Here you go," you said and handed your clone his skewer.

"Thanks,"

"Now we just need to figure out to attack him."

"We throw the rocks at him right?" The clone asked.

You just looked at him.

"I was joking," he said and took another bite.

"You know those clay golems we considered?" You asked.

"Huh?" Your clone exclaimed. "Oh, those. Yeah, we put a lot of them around the room and have them all attack Danzo. Make some that can breathe fire too, remember Naruto suggesting it?"

"Oh yeah. Danzo might expect the explosions, but the added fire might throw him off. With the heat causing even more problem. There is just one problem…"

"What kind of problem?" Your clone asked.

"We need back down at our room in Root. It has thick walls that hopefully won't get destroyed or let Danzo escape by other means. I begin to think this is a stupid idea and we should quit," you said.

"No, we just have to believe in ourself, we cannot let Danzo continue to act as he does. Even if we've managed to stop the massacre, don't you think he'd be antagonistic towards the Uchiha in the future? What about the other kids in Root, should we just let him do what he wants?"

"No, we shouldn't. I just feel something will go wrong. And to get back our room underground, we kind of need to create an accident, and have Danzo argue it is for the best that we train underground. But will Danzo take the bait?"

"I don't see why not," he said.

"Alright, we'll continue working on it, but that doesn't mean I've decided to actually strike, we'll make a final decision when we're ready."

"Deal. Do you think I can try my hand on the golems?"

"Sure, why?"

"I don't want you to stop letting me out again, so if I continue to be useful, you have to let me out and I can make you buy me dango."

"Is dango all you think about?" You asked.

"Of course not," he said and took the last dango ball off your skewer and put it in his mouth.

"It's fine, while I focus on my other skills you can do that, but you better teach me the stuff afterwards right."

"Of course, just give me some money so I can buy supplies."

"Here," you said and gave him some ryo from your wallet. "Don't spend them all on dango, I want the receipts."

"You don't trust me?"

"I trust you to love dango as much as me. Tell me when you need to be resummoned so you can regain your chakra and we'll take down Danzo together."

You threw Sai over your shoulder and won another spar.

"Well done Sota, you're getting better," Sensei congratulated you.

"Thanks," you replied and helped the other boy up.

Towards you came Danzo rolling in his wheel-chair. What had happened? You couldn't avoid smiling, this was your chance.

"I got injured in the service of the village, so put away that smile," he said and smacked you over the head with his cane. Why was he even using that if he couldn't walk?

"Good to see you back Danzo-sama, I assume you've heard about my deal with the Hokage?" Sensei asked.

"Yes, how has he been doing?"

"He's getting better and better, I have to make the others team up to take him down now. Uchiha Shisui taught him to use the body flicker and he has used that well in his fights," Sensei said. "I think he'd be a good addition to Root if he decides to join, we talked about it after you left, and he seemed to have warmed up to the idea after I cleared up a few things with him."

"Good, do you have any issues leading the recruits alone?" Danzo asked.

"Not yet, so no need to find a replacement for Crow yet," Sensei said.

"Good," he said and turned his attention to you. "So have you made a decision yet?"

"No, not yet. I still need some time to think. Next is the Chuunin exam and I want to see how things change when I'm no longer on Raidou's team," you said. Better keep him on a friendly foot before you killed him.

"I will ask you again then," he said.

"Umm… there is one thing I want to ask about."

"Go ahead," he said.

"I want to go back to studying my seals down here. The place the Hokage found me isn't very suitable, I've to go outside the village walls every time I want to test something, as the Hokage fears an accident and it is quite inconvenient. I'm careful, mostly careful. Down here it doesn't matter if I let off an explosion or two, so..."

"You heard what he said yourself, he thinks his new arrangement is safe."

"Yeah about that, what if I arrange a little accident… Would you then argue my case that you should take back control?" You asked.

Danzo smiled at you. He probably thought he had gotten you now, but he was about to activate your trap card.

"Very well, just try to make it look like you didn't do it on purpose and I will do my part," he said.

"Thanks," you said and gave him a smile. You really had him now.

-x-

You went into the workshop you'd been given for one last time, there were some things you wanted to secure before arranging the accident. It was nicer than what you had had down at Danzo's, but it was true what you told him, it was less practical. Though you wondered if you could get Kotetsu and Izumo to keep letting you out after this little stunt, that someone would just forget to tell them.

You had already prepared your defect seal, and now it was just to set it off. While you didn't fear the explosion itself, you didn't want to get caught in the rubble so you ran out of the building with the help of the body flicker, and a moment later the house exploded and one of the wooden beams hit you in the back of your head, causing you to fall forward.

"Fuck that hurt, why didn't I think about defending myself from this," you mumbled to yourself. Though if you had, you'd very easily create damage to any wooden structure you encountered.

Several ANBU rushed to your location. "Are you okay?" One of the masked ninja asked you.

"I think so," you said.

"Let me check," they said and laid their hands on your head. "You look fine, let me just heal you up a bit and you can go home."

"Thanks," you said.

"I will have to report this to the Hokage, you know that right?" They asked.

"Yeah," you nodded.

"Good, you can go now."

Step one completed, now you just had to wait for Danzo to deliver.

-x-

This was the first time you had slept at your own place in several weeks and you had no issues at all. You wouldn't be able to sleep at Root after you killed Danzo, so it was nice that your sleeping issues were gone.

It didn't take long before someone knocked on the door. You hurried up and opened before they invited themselves in.

"Good morning," you greeted Danzo. Hopefully, he had good news for you.

"I talked to the Hokage about what happened, and he agrees with me. It is too dangerous to let you practise your fuuinjutsu in the village, so we've agreed that the best choice is to go back to our previous arrangement. You can come down whenever you want, but you're not allowed to stay overnight," he explained. He was clearly feigning any knowledge of your agreement, so how you should you react? Whatever you told him would probably be reported to the Hokage, it wouldn't be too hard for ANBU to read your lips from wherever they were hiding.

"It wasn't my fault that the place he found me was that fragile, give me another chance," you begged.

"It is either this or nothing, your choice," Danzo said and turned around to leave.

Step two completed, now you needed to communicate with Matatabi, just in case your plan went south, you needed a contingency plan. Danzo was already injured, and if he managed to get away from your trap, it wouldn't take much more to take him down, so she would be perfect.

You put the blanket over yourself to ensure that none would hear you. You hoped they didn't listen in to your plans with your clone, but if they had, they'd probably confronted you with it already.

"Hi Mata, I hope not disturbing you. I need your help in case things go wrong. Can you promise me to lend me your power if Danzo comes after me, and not try to escape? Give me a sign if you agree, and no sign I guess if you don't," you whispered hoping she would hear you.

There was no response as first but after maybe half a minute you could feel a bit of her chakra.

"Thanks," you replied and threw the blanket away from yourself.

You couldn't strike right away, that would just be too suspicious, but if you waited to too long, Danzo would recover. So a couple of days of waiting would be perfect.

But first had to go back down underground, to make the final preparations and actually use the place you asked for.

-x-

Back underground you summoned your clone again.

"You did it!" He exclaimed and smiled.

"Yeah, now we just need to stick the landing," you said.

He just nodded. "Give me your bag," he said and you obliged.

He picked out some storage tags and activated them. Out came four clay figures about as long as your arm with big mouths and hollow eyes, as if someone had sucked the soul out of them, not that clay figures had any souls.

"And they all work?" You asked.

"Yeah, try to dodge!" He called out and activated them with his hands.

Out came kunai flying, and as you ran around the room they rotated their heads to track you. You ran up the wall to prevent them from being able to hit you and the golem quickly ran out of kunai..

"Good work. I wish they could move their heads up and down, but I don't think that matters here as he's stuck to his wheelchair. Now we just have to load them with the proper seals."

Your clone nodded and the two of you go to work.

-x-

After some tense waiting, now was the day, you had bought your clone more dango and a bowl of ramen for yourself.

"Are you ready for today?" You asked him.

"Yup," the clone said and he nibbled on his food.

"Remember to pretend to be me right?"

"Yeah, I'll try my best. We're kind of like twins you know, similar but at the same time a bit different. But I think I know how to mimic you," he said.

"Good. How do you intend to trick Danzo into falling for our trap?" You asked.

"Hmm.. I'll improvise, it's not like he suspects anything, I'll just ask to talk to him something and then get ready for it all."

"Make sure you have everything you need beforehand," you said.

"Yeah yeah yeah. I've control here. It's just as much my idea this than you, if not more. You don't need to be so…. Just trust me will you?"

"Okay, I'm sorry," you said. "I'm just a bit afraid, it's me he'll go after if this goes wrong."

"We're both in this, if he takes you, he takes me too. I know that you don't think about me as anything more than a clone, but I wish you could see me more as a brother you know," he said.

"Maybe. I'll trust you then, I'm going to go outside, I don't want to sit here and wait," you said and left your apartment.

-x-

The tension was too great, there was nothing you could do right now other than waiting for Danzo to take the bait and for your clone to launch the attack. If Danzo were to strike against you, it was best to have some witnesses. How long had you been waiting now?

You didn't have to wait for much longer as you felt something in your feet, something rumbling like a small earthquake.

You smiled to yourself, for once, things had gone your way.

Ninja started running around you, you hadn't expected your little stunt to put the village on alert.

"Sota, do you know why the ground is shaking," Shisui asked.

"Why do you ask that?" And where did he come from?

"You started smiling as the shaking started, you haven't set off lots of explosions underground have you?" He asked.

"It sounds like something I could have done yeah," you replied. You didn't really want to lie to him.

"And?" He asked.

"The village would be better off without Danzo," you said.

Shisui's kept his calm. "What are you plan now, in case he survives?"

"I'm ready to use Matatabi against him if he comes after me, and he won't do anything to me with people around."

"I guess you're right, but you won't stay safe for long. We could run, I think I'd be able to be a quite successful missing-nin," he said.

"They'll catch up to us, and I don't want to be on the run my entire life. A failed mission put him in a wheelchair, and if he survived what I threw at him, he's probably even more injured. It wouldn't take much to finish him off, maybe you could help me?"

"Come with me Sota, and we'll figure this out," he said.

"Thanks," you said and walked with him. He stopped as you arrived in a quiet back alley devoid of people.

In a puff of smoke, Shisui disappeared and in front of you sat Danzo.

"You're not the only one that can use shadow clones, so don't bother attacking me," he said before you could draw on Matatabi's chakra.

You turned around and saw a Root agent blocking the exit holding a sparking sword.

That was not the path out, being electrocuted was not something you'd want to experience again. You looked for other exit opportunities. But on the roof above you stood several other ninja also armed with similar swords.

Why hadn't you prepared for this. Should you just attack them all and run for it?

"I'm not going to kill you," Danzo said.

"How did you...?" You asked, not being able to ask the right question.

"How I figured out that you were going to try to kill me? You're the worst assassin I've ever seen. You told your old sensei that you wanted me dead. You had Genma teach you how to lock me outside, but you never used it on your door. You told him that you wanted help to assassinate someone," he said.

Why had he done that...

"Don't look at me like that, he's required to report things like that even if he thought you were joking. Combined with your attempt to get back underground, you were yelling it out for everyone to hear. You don't get at my age in my position without being able to snuff out an assassination attempt."

"Fuck," you muttered to yourself.

"Other than that you did a good job. You laid a plan to take out someone way above your level. You made sure your attack would leave me dead, you had a contingency plan. But next time make sure you've got a better exit strategy," Danzo advised.

Only Danzo would compliment someone for trying to assassinate him and then offer advice on where to improve.

"Thanks," you mumbled.

"Next time you try anything like that I will ruin you and make sure everyone will see you as a monster, even those you now call friends."

With a puff of smoke, Danzo and all the Root agents disappeared, all shadow clones apparently. He was taking no chances, what did he fear?

And could you even trust him? He'd let you go now, but he'd probably use this against you later.

What should you do? Should you tell Shisui about it? No, he would just get the wrong idea about you. You couldn't tell Mikoto, that was for sure. Genma still believed in you, so you wouldn't want to shatter that image. You could just keep it secret. No, you didn't want to give Danzo an edge over you, there was only one person who could deal with him, so you turned your gaze over the to the Hokage-tower. It was a stupid idea, but one day your stupid ideas had to work.

-x-

"You can go in now," his secretary said. It had been a long and tense wait, you just hoped that the Hokage wasn't in too bad of a mood. Why didn't you bring him some food to bribe him with?

"Sit down Uzumaki, what do you want to talk to me about?" Hiruzen asked.

"I kind of messed up… again… I tried to kill Danzo and failed," you confessed.

"This is very serious you know that right?" He asked.

"Yes, I know. Danzo caught me, but let me go. It didn't look like he intended to punish me. I'm afraid he'll use this against me later. So this is why I'm telling you this, I'm sorry," you said.

"Given what Danzo has done, I would say he was asking for it. We're two that can stretch the rules. If what you're saying is true, he should have reported this to me immediately and not use it to blackmail you later. Don't tell him that you've confessed to me. I think this can come useful later. Is there anything else you want to confess to?" The Hokage asked.

"I blew up the place you got me on purpose to get Danzo to take me back down, we planned it together."

"I thought something was fishy, thank you Sota."

"Why do you let Danzo do whatever he wants?" You asked.

"Same reason he's letting you get away with everything. He's a useful ally and vital for the safety of the village. So I've no problems see past a few things."

"I see," there was no use arguing with him. Hiruzen knew that Danzo was up to a lot of shady stuff, you didn't need to tell him.

"There is something I want to do for me in return for looking past this issue. As you might know already, we'll be hosting the Chuunin-exam in a few weeks. We will be inviting Iwagakure, and the Tsuchikage will be sending his granddaughter to compete. I want you to defeat her in the tournament."

"I'm not so sure if I can do it," you said.

"If you can make a plan to take down Danzo, you can make a plan to defeat a ten-year-old girl. I've her file here," he said and handed you a piece of paper. "If she loses to you, it will make them look bad, if she wins, she'll gain nothing from it and I've got a backup to take her down in case you fail.."

The most concerning part of this was her lava-release. Dealing with her fire was a no brainer at this point, but lava not so much. Maybe flood the arena to solidify her attacks. Any earth barriers could be destroyed with explosives. But the biggest issue you had to solve how to defeat a stronger enemy without seriously injure them.

"I'll try," you replied.

If you could just do great in the exam, maybe life would start to get better. For now, you just had to continue preparing and do your best.

"Sota, Sota," you heard Naruto yell after you as you sat at the river bank "What are you doing?"

"I'm filling my seals with water so I can use them later in a fight, most of my other tools are a bit too dangerous."

"Oh," he said and turned to your clone that was actually doing the hard work in the river. "Hi, other Sota."

Your clone just waved back to him.

Before you can say anything more, Naruto jumped into the river and began to swim around, you were kind of surprised he could swim.

"Come and join us," he said and sprayed a bit of water on you.

"No, I don't want to get wet." You didn't make your clone do the work for no reason.

"You're no fun bastard, just like Sasuke. You remind me of cats. Shisui's cat didn't want to swim with me either, but at least he touched the water with his paw."

As you turned your attention to your clone, Naruto launched forward and grabbed your wrist. You stumbled forward, and he was laughing.

But you had the last laugh.

"Wait, you can walk on water?" he asked. "Teach me please!"

"Sorry, you're not ready yet," you said, judging from what you knew, he had nowhere near the control or patience at this time.

"Come on, I'm older than you," he pouted.

"Ask Itachi or Shisui, they helped me," you said. It was perhaps a bit cruel to put this on them, but they could handle Naruto.

"I will," he smiled.

"Did you drag Sasuke into the water too?" You asked.

"Yeah, but he was waving his arms around and refused to swim around with me. So Itachi came to pick him up and he was angry at me a few days after that," he explained.

You could understand Sasuke there. Why did Naruto have to be so clueless that he didn't realize that he couldn't swim?

"Who are those guys, they don't have a leaf on their forehead protectors?" he asked and pointed somewhere behind you.

You turned around and saw three Suna-nin, two boys and a girl. "Oh, they're here for the Chuunin exam, we start tomorrow."

"You have to take another exam even if you're done with school?" he asked.

"Yes, and in the end, there will be a big tournament between the best genin."

"I'll come and watch you," he said and grinned.

"There is no guarantee that I'll get to the finals, you'll continue and fail as a team. And I'm not sure if my teammates will pass tomorrow's test." Especially not that slimy bastard.

"That doesn't sound fair," he mumbled. "Why should you fail because your teammates are doing a bad job?"

"Part of being a chuunin is to have some leadership abilities, if you let someone be a bastard without doing something about it, you've only yourself to blame when they betray you."

"I see," he said. "When you were in Suna, did you make any friends, do you know them?"

"I don't know them, did I make any friends…," you mumbled the last part to yourself.

Did Gaara count?

"I think so," you continued.

"Oh, who are they?" he asked.

"His name is Gaara, I looked for him since he's like us," you said.

"Like us?" Naruto asked and titled his head in confusion.

"Oh…," why did you let that slip out. "I thought he was an Uzumaki, as he has red hair like me. But I'm not really sure, but he's a bit younger than me."

"What did you do, how is he like?"

"We didn't do much, their ANBU kind of though I was there to kill him, so they attacked me, but he saved my life and helped me run away."

"Is he strong?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. He can manipulate sand and has a gourd on his back so he can carry it everywhere he goes and always be prepared."

"Is he stronger than you?"

"Not sure, we have our strengths and weaknesses." Though if you were honest, without some trick up your sleeve like last time, he'd probably beat you. Unless you could somehow absorb his sand… Not that you had any intention of fighting him anything soon.

"Do you think he'll be my friend, if he's anything like you and Sasuke, he won't have many friends?" he asked.

That wasn't nice, but it was kind of true.

"I'm sure you'll become best friends once you meet," you smiled at him.

"Do you ever think about your parents?" Naruto asked out of the blue.

"Not really," you shrugged.

"I think about it every time I visit Sasuke. Do you think my mother would have been as nice as Sasuke's?" He looked at you with heavy eyes.

"I'm sure she would be as nice and scary as Mikoto."

"Mikoto isn't scary," Naruto protested. It was clear that he had not been on the receiving end of her Sharingan. "How do you think your mother would be?"

"I've no idea… I've got a picture of her if you want to see?" You offered.

"You have a picture? Let me see, let me see!" Naruto yelled out and got out of the water.

You retrieved the picture from one of your seals and held it in front of him.

"Is that you?" Naruto asked as he pointed to the child in the picture.

"Yeah, but be careful, your fingers are wet."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said and pulled back his hand, "but you're so small."

"Toddlers are small and you too were as small once."

"No way. I'm taller than you so I would have been bigger than that," Naruto lifted his arms for emphasis. "And that's your mother? She's beautiful."

You were not sure what to say, so you just nodded.

"Do you think my mother had red hair too?" he asked.

"Maybe. You know the Hokage, you should ask him, maybe he knows."

"I've asked him before, but he says he doesn't know and then he just leaves."

"He's old, old people forget easily. Maybe if you ask him if your mom had long red hair like my mother, he'll remember?" You gave him a gleeful smile. That old bastard should take some responsibility someday.

"Oh, you're right. I think he'll visit me again next week, I'll ask him then. Thanks, Sota," Naruto cheered up.

"You're welcome."

"What if she's my mom too? Maybe we're secret brothers?" he pondered.

"We're born to close apart, we cannot be brothers."

"Oh… Wait, maybe we're twins. Twins don't have to look exactly alike, you know."

"Not close enough."

"Oh… Tell me more about Gaara," he asked a bit dejected.

"His father is the Kazekage and a big ass, and he's two older siblings. One older brother who uses puppets to fight and an older sister who is a big fan of fans."

"Oh, that stinks. I thought it would be fun to have a Kage as a father, people would respect you and not treat you less than a nobody."

You so wanted to tell him.

"Are you Uzumaki Sota?" An unknown person asked behind you.

You turned around and saw a boy around Kabuto's age, probably an Aburame judging from the sunglasses and the wasps flying around him.

"No, but he is," Naruto said and pointed to you.

"My name is Aburame Hachi. On behalf of the clan, I suggest you withdraw from the Chuunin Exam or I'll crush you."

"Stay away from him you big bully!" Naruto yelled out.

"You're his friend?" Hachi asked.

"Yeah, got any problem with that?" he asked.

"You should stay away from Sota, he's nothing but trouble. He'll get you kidnapped or killed if you're not careful."

"Sota might be a bastard at times, but he's not like that."

"You know he killed someone on his last mission?" Hachi asked.

"It's not true, tell him it isn't true Sota!" Naruto yelled out.

"It was in self-defence," you said. "They tried to kidnap me."

"Only a fool believes in lies like that," the Aburama grunted.

"Then I'm a fool," Naruto said.

"You've never seen him acting strange or anything?" Hachi asked.

"No I haven't, nothing at all," Naruto said and pointed a shaking finger at him. "Leave us alone."

"I can see from the way you're talking and moving that you don't believe that yourself," Hachi said and left.

"Umm… I think I should go home now," Naruto said looking down at his feet. "My clothes are wet and I'm getting cold."

"Bye," you replied.

"Bye," Naruto mumbled and began to run into the village.

-x-

"Good morning Sota, mind if I walk you to the academy, so we can talk a bit?" Itachi asked.

"The academy?" You asked.

"Yes, for the written part of the Chuunin exam."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I'll just get my stuff first," you said.

"I don't think you need anything, everything you need will be provided to you during the exam," he said. "And as I said, it is a written exam, you won't need any of your weapons."

"The written test is just a ruse, there is always a deeper test, and who knows maybe they'll test us for preparedness and punish those who came unequipped?" You asked.

"Uh, I don't know. I didn't have to take it as I was alone, I skipped right to the second part," he explained.

"It was probably because the first test probably wouldn't make sense if you were alone. Let's say that at the end you were asked if you were willing to give up your spot to make your teammates pass or let your teammates fail for you to pass. What would you say?"

"I can see that. You've done your research. Though it seems like a bit of a cruel test and I feel it would cause a lot of people to fail. I'd think I would have probably fallen for it, as I was quite impatient after being held back."

"That's the point," you said.

"Sasuke and Naruto have been trying to make me teach them to walk on water, you know anything about that?" he asked.

You shook your head.

Itachi laughed. "I'll try to help them with tree-walking first and hope they'll give up when they realize that they're not ready."

"Shouldn't you have some faith in your brother?" You asked.

"I don't want him to be like us, I want him to take his time, enjoy being a kid. If I could redo things, I'm not sure if I would have helped you graduate early."

"I will try to stay out of trouble from now on, but I'm improving, I've not tried to kill anyone for several weeks now and I've not almost died in even longer."

"Isn't that a bit of a low bar?" Itachi asked.

"Baby steps,"

Itachi let out a stifled laugh.

"Promise me that you stay safe during the exam, getting promoted isn't worth risking yours or someone else's life over."

"I'll try, you don't have to worry that much Itachi."

"I know, you better get inside before your teammates start looking for you. Meet me and Shisui at the dango stand afterwards, we can congratulate you if you pass and comfort you if you fail.

"Thanks, see you later," you said and went inside the academy.

-x-

"Hi Sota, are you ready?" Kabuto greeted you as you arrived in the lobby.

"Hi," you mumbled back. "Do you know who's in charge of the exam, you haven't seen Ibiki right?"

"Umm, I did, we've been here a while to observe the opposition."

To spy on them you mean?

"Come with me, there is something I need to tell you that I don't want our competitors to hear," you said.

"Uhh, we were told to not be alone with you," Torune said.

"Sensei is overreacting, Torune. Follow me you two, there is somewhere we can go," Kabuto said.

You followed him to a more vacant part of the academy.

"So what's your plan Sota?" He asked.

"I'm not 100% certain, but with Ibiki running the exam, there will be one last secret question that decides it all. Everything else is just a red herring, the points don't matter, or at least I think they don't matter.

"At the end of the test, we'll be asked a question that tries to measure our determination in a mission. It tries to make us either give up or not give up. I've no idea what it will be this time, but the key to it is simple. Don't sacrifice your teammates for your own benefit, and don't give up just because you're afraid of failing," you tried explaining.

"So if you're going to sacrifice someone, you sacrifice yourself?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes. We'll pass and fail together, so whatever the last question will be, I think we're supposed to choose the same thing."

"Hmm, it makes sense. When you say sacrifice, you mean withdrawing from the exam right?"

"Yes," you said.

"Thanks for telling us, time to get back before they start without us."

-x-

As soon as you came back, Ibiki were there to greet you all. "Alright, Genin. On your registration slip, you should have a letter and a number telling you where to sit. Letter for the door and number for the desk. If you forgot yours, you've five minutes to retrieve it and get seated before you get disqualified along with your team."

You hadn't gotten any…

"Here Sota," Kabuto said and handed you a piece of paper.

"Thanks," you mumbled.

You took a look at it, A 15. You put the slip into your pocket and walked inside and quickly found your seat, right behind Hachi. If he tried to attack you with the wasps that were flying around him, you would fry both him and them.

In front of you were a pencil and a booklet with 'DO NOT OPEN BEFORE THE TEST STARTS' written on the front with big letters.

Just like in the series, several ninja that looked like Chuunin were standing by the walls, though in a less excessive amount here. And in the front was some other ninja you didn't know who was, Ibiki couldn't be everywhere…

Unless he used shadow clones…

He probably had a good reason not to.

As the time started to tick down, one last team hurried inside breathing heavily just in time as the proctor went to the door and locked it.

"Welcome to the first part of the Chuunin Exam. My name is Kontoku Shiken and I'll be your proctor during this test. You'll be scored on a range from 0 to 10 points. If you get caught cheating you lose between 1-3 points for each offence. If you get below 0 points, you get disqualified. And just a warning to any smartasses out here. Stealing someone's test and putting your own name on it will get you directly disqualified and the test will be given back to its original owner. We reserve our right to disqualify and dock any amount of points at our own discretion. Any questions?"

"Has that happened before?" Someone asked.

"Next," he said and pointed to someone else.

"What is considered cheating?"

"If you managed to get through the academy I'm sure you'll figure that out yourself. Since no one has any real questions, let's get started. You can open your tests now, you have two hours."

You looked through your booklet and saw ten questions, all written out, so no secret last-minute surprise here. Had you been wrong, was this a no-nonsense test?

One of them involved some kunai physics that you could easily solve if you could just remember your vector maths and another involving sealing that anyone could solve. And perhaps you could try your hand on one of the cyphers, if you were lucky, your good old friend Ceasar should help out. You could also try to cheat, but you had no means to do so and you weren't going to risk handing in a blank test, so better get any points that you could get.

Though before that, perhaps you could have a bit of fun with any Iwa-nin trying to peek on your test. On one of the questions that you had no idea how to answer, you wrote down some insults about the Tsuchikage and his nose before starting to solve what you could.

After almost two hours of working, you noticed that the test was much harder than you first expected. You had perhaps spent the last 15 minutes just waiting after giving up on the last cypher. Some of it you really had to cheat on it seemed like, or it could just be you that was bad at it.

So it was a relief when the proctor finally called it off.

"Time's up. Stop writing and put down your pencil right away," the proctor said. "I hope you did well, or at least better than your teammates. This is how it is going to work. I give you the choice of giving up or continuing."

Before he could continue, someone quickly asked. "Why would we be giving up?"

"I was getting there. If you're the only one that chooses to continue, you'll pass no problem. If two of you continue, the one with the best score will continue and the one that gave up will lose their chance of becoming Chuunin ever again. And if none of you gives up, the two with the best score will continue while the worst scoring one will again lose the chance to become Chuunin. And if there is a tiebreaker, the oldest of you will continue"

"And what if all three gives up?" a girl behind you asked.

The proctor sighed. "I was getting there. If all three give up, all of you get another chance in six months to try again as usual regardless of the number of points."

"Not going to happen, I'm pretty sure I scored ten points and I didn't hear you docking any points from me for cheating," she replied.

"You're right, I didn't dock you any points. If you want to continue, leave your desk and come to the front here. If you want to give up, just remain seated."

The girl didn't hesitate as she got to the front and many others followed, including the Aburame in front of you.

You were not going to hold a passionate speech to get them to give up. You just hoped that neither Kabuto nor Torune had fallen for the trick, or that you had misinterpreted the task. But it was pretty clear that the proctor was baiting you into not giving up, and that 10 point kid might as well have been a plant.

"There is still some time to get up here, and don't think about how many points you got, what matters is if you get more than your teammates," the proctor said.

One more candidate got up and joined the rest.

"Think tactically about this, you've nothing to lose on continuing. If you are the worst scoring, you can continue if both of your teammates give up, and they'll still get to try again next time. No matter the situation, you're better off continuing."

Two more got up. This guy was evil, though it was probably Ibiki's idea, they really wanted to get rid of as many as possible.

The time just continued to tick, but it seemed that people had settled with their decision. More than half the room has failed the test, but there were still some left, and you were all dependent on your teammates making the same decision.

The proctor knocked on the wall three times, and a few seconds later the walls began to shake, you turned around and saw the walls being lifted into the ceiling turning everything into one big room.

"Ahem," Ibiki tried to get everyone's attention from the middle room. "Good work. All of you that are standing up here, you failed along with your team."

"What?!" Someone yelled out.

"This was a test and by choosing to continue you failed it," he clarified.

"This is bullshit, we were told that to continue we had to do this, fail those losers that gave up. You cannot just change your mind like this."

"You took a deal that came at the cost of your teammates, you've no reason to complain. As a team, you're in it together. I ask everyone that's out to leave the room and if you try to trick us by remaining I will make sure that you won't take this exam again for real," Ibiki warned.

After everyone that had failed, left, he turned his attention back to you. "For those that are still here, you pass, as long as everyone on the team got a positive score. And just a little note, to everyone that copied the cyphers answers from one of our plants, we'll be docking you two points for cheating and for not making sure the information you gathered was right, as they were all tasked to give you the wrong answer."

You could hear grumbling noises behind you.

"Group together with your team and we'll check your answers," Ibiki told you all.

"Umm, my other teammates aren't there, what should I do?" Someone asked.

Ibiki sighed. "Then they failed and you should have left with them," he said in a tone that got the poor genin to step backwards before he ran to the door.

Shortly after, Kabuto and Torune joined you.

"Thanks for the warning," Kabuto said.

"I did it because I wanted to pass," you replied.

One of the chuunin helpers got up to you. "Alright, hand me your answers and I'll see if you pass."

"Here," you said and he took your booklets and went to look over them on another desk.

You just looked at each other without saying anything while waiting, and Torune was avoiding your eyes.

Luckily it didn't take long before the Chuunin came back. "Good work, you three pass."

As you were waiting, only one other team was sent out and Ibiki started talking again.

"Good work to everyone who's left. Given that you're only six teams left, we'll skip directly to preliminaries "

You were 18 people, how would that work?

"As you've may already have noticed, you're still a bit too many, so I'll ask any of you if you want to give up, for real this time."

Torune raised his hand.

"And why is that?" Ibiki asked back.

"Why?" Torune asked.

"Yes, if you want to be taken seriously as a ninja you need to be willing to take risks, so I hope you've got a good reason for giving up."

He looked a bit unsure of himself but did manage to come up with some answer after some deliberation. "I cannot control my insects properly, so I don't want to risk the lives of others."

"I respect that, you can leave now. Anyone else?"

Kabuto raised his hand.

Ibiki sighed. "Why are you even participating if you're just going to give up?"

"Kabuto," you whispered to him. "You should continue for the sake of Sensei, he took the loss of the team hard, let him at least see you try to become Chuunin."

"Never mind, I'll continue," Kabuto told Ibiki.

"Good, if there is no one else that feels like quitting, then the candidates B4 and C1 will be having a pre-qualifier round at Arena B in two hours. So get some lunch and prepare. The rest of you can show up there tomorrow at noon."

"Who are we going to fight tomorrow?" Someone asked.

"You're going to fight each other," Ibiki answered.

"I mean, do we get to know your opponent?" They asked.

"No, so be prepared for anyone and use this time to learn more about your potential opponents," Ibiki said and left.

With him gone, it was time for you to leave too. Was there anything you could do to prepare for tomorrow?

Hmmm…

You hadn't really practised your fire jutsu much in actual combat. All you needed to do was promise your clone some dango and he'd be up for helping you. Future Naruto was lucky he didn't have to bribe his clones, or else he'd bankrupt himself buying ramen after each mission.

But first, you had to meet up with Shisui and Itachi for some delicious dango.

-x-

As the evening came around, it was time to celebrate passing the first test with your clone with some more dango.

"Sota, why do you hate Kabuto so much? What is he going to do?" Your clone asked as you handed him his dango.

"He's working for Orochimaru I think. And he's going to cause a lot of destruction in the future. From helping Hidden Sound to invade Konoha along with Suna, to resurrect a ton of ninja to fight a war against us and the other villages. And lastly, resurrect Madara which will almost cause the world to end, we'll win in the end, but not without sacrifices."

"Seems like a pretty evil guy," Clone-kun said and took a bite of his food.

"If I'm right that is."

"We should take him out," he said.

"Take him out?" You asked.

"Yeah, during the exam. He's good and so are we, so we're pretty likely to face off. We'll blow him up before he sees what's coming and gives up," you clone said.

"You're a really bad influence, you know that?"

"I learnt from the best," he grinned at you before taking another bite of his dango.

"I'm not so sure it sounds like a terrible idea. But we're very unlikely to meet each other tomorrow, so I don't have to make this decision yet. I'm going to bed now, good night," you told your clone.

"Good night," he replied.

You were running towards the arena as you saw a few familiar faces.

"Hey Deidara, isn't that the kid Sensei warned us about?" Kurotsuchi asked her teammate.

"Yeah," Deidara mumbled.

You didn't have time for this and it was best to just stay away from that bastard so you tried to get past them.

"Hey, don't be rude, we wanna talk to you," she said.

"I've to get to the arena and shouldn't you too?" You asked.

"We've plenty of time, and this dumbhead forgot his clay in our room and we have to be with him."

"I'd like to be early," you said.

"I'd expected something scarier, Deidara had nightmares about you."

"I didn't have a nightmare!" Deidara yelled out.

"Then why were you thrashing around in your sleep keeping the rest of us awake?"

"The bedsheets was crap, that's why," Deidara grunted.

"Too harsh for your sensitive skin?" She asked.

"That's not what I meant," he mumbled.

She then turned to look at you again. "I'd expected something more like he'd be big for his age or being an Uchiha. Not an innocent-looking five-year-old," she said.

"I'm seven," you replied.

"So you did attend the academy before becoming a genin. I wonder if you really are a prodigy or if Konoha has started just graduating small innocent children in hopes of tricking us into believing you're the next Kakashi or something."

"You wouldn't call him innocent if you'd seen him in action," Deidara mumbled.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"I said you wouldn't call him innocent if you'd seen him brutally murder a guy only for him to let out a chilling childish laughter afterwards," Deidara raised his voice.

"Come on Deidara, you're not scaring me. This isn't a prank you and sensei are pulling, right?"

"He's a fucking monster, he got stabbed and electrocuted, then moments later he just got up as if nothing had happened," he yelled out.

"I'm not a monster," you said bluntly and looked him in the eyes. You were acting in self-defence. It wasn't your fault that you had little experience in fending off kidnappers through less violent means.

He flinched back a bit. "I'm going, come with me Akatsuchi, if Kurotsuchi wants to get herself killed, it's her choice," he told his teammate, before leaving along with him.

"I'm sorry about him," she said. "Not all Iwa-nin lack manners."

"It's fine," you said. Not that she was much better.

"Your eyes are quite interesting," she said and crunched down to see better. "Green and yellow… Wait, you're Nibi's Jinchuuriki, you're not supposed to be here you know?"

"Stuff happened."

"What kind of cheating village sends their Jinchuuriki into the Chuunin Exam?" She mumbled.

"Don't tell anyone, especially that bastard of your teammate," you said. You couldn't let him know your secret, he'd sell you out to Akatsuki in no time and you were still in no shape to fend off even a single one of them.

"You don't tell me what to do," she grunted.

"It's up to you if you want to sleep at night or not," you replied.

"Are you t… I won't tell anyone, it's not like telling Deidara would do anything, he'll probably chicken out and surrender to you straight away anyway."

"Good," you replied and walked past her towards the arena again. You were glad that was over.

-x-

As you arrived, you saw the two friendly faces of Shisui and Itachi.

"HI," you waved to them.

"Hi," they greeted back.

"Mother wanted to come to see you too, but she's too busy today. But she promised to watch if you get through to the finals," Itachi said.

"It's fine, it too much pressure with just you alone, it would just be worse with her here too."

Shisui put a hand on your shoulder. "It's okay, we can leave if you want. We just want you to perform the best, so if you feel it's better without, we won't get insulted."

"It is fine, I was just joking. Yeah, I feel the pressure on me, but I think some might be good and it's nice to have someone who believes in me here. I kind of want to win," you said.

"Alright, let's find some good seats," Shisui said and you followed the two of them to the stands.

There weren't too many people there, so finding a good seat wasn't hard. So now it was just to wait, you should have bought some dango…

"Have you any new tricks up your sleeves for the fight?" Shisui asked.

"Not really, I've just been focusing on the basics. But I'll make sure to pay attention so I know what to prepare for in the finals," you said.

"Tell us if you need help with anything," he said.

"I will."

It didn't take long before you heard the loudspeakers announcing the start of the preliminaries.

"Welcome candidates, as there is only room for eight in the finals, half of you have to leave us today.

"For the first round, we'll have our own Akimichi Maruten, and Kurotsuchi all the way from Iwagakure, as the Tsuchikage granddaughter, she has a lot of expectations bearing her down. Can she pull off a surprise win despite her small size, or will she end up getting steamrolled by a much stronger and experienced opponent?" You heard the announcer call out. You weren't sure if you'd heard their voice or not, but you knew for sure it wasn't Genma as he was down in the centre of the arena.

It didn't take long before the two competitors got down there with him. After exchanging some words you couldn't hear, he got out of the way and gave the signal to start.

"Alright. Three… Two… One… Go!" The announcer yelled out. And the two didn't wait to get into action. Maruten curled up in a ball and began to roll at a high speed towards Kurotsuchi spraying sand everywhere.

She responded by spewing lava in his path, but that only caused him to sway away from his path and quickly aim right back at her.

"He was one of my classmates when I attended the academy. I think he'll win this one," Itachi said.

"I'll bet you one round of dango that he loses," you said.

"Deal," Itachi quickly replied. "What makes you so sure about that?"

"The Hokage wants to humiliate Iwa by having her lose to me in the finals. So I think the matchup is rigged in her favour. Even if it might not look like that," you said as she narrowly avoided being rolled over.

She ran towards the outer walls of the arena and spewed more lava behind her to get him off her back for a second. As he came speeding at her, she put up a slanted earth wall and as he hit it, he got bounced towards the wall, but instead of ending in a crash, leant hard to the left and began to roll on the sidewalls instead.

"Are you still sure about the bet?" Itachi asked.

"Hmmph, how would you beat him?" You asked.

"I'd try genjutsu or use my Sharingan to get close. She should be a lot more aggressive, but I guess she's limited on chakra. Though if you end up fighting him, you won't have that issue."

"I'm sure she'll figure out something," you muttered.

And it didn't get much better through the match. Maruten showed no sign of slowing down and she just continued much like before, creating new walls and having him bounce away to no effect.

"What do you think Shisui?" You asked.

"Hmm… I think you'll win this bet Sota. He's not changing his tactics and seems to be betting on her slipping up, but I think it's more likely that she'll adapt and outsmart him in the end."

The air got filled with more and more sand. "I think I'll get a pair of goggles if he wins this one. It's getting hard to see here, I cannot imagine how it is in her position."

"I look forwards to the dango," Itachi replied.

This continued until she messed up hard. Trapped by her own earth walls, Maruten was on a straight collision course without anywhere for her to go. As they connected, Kurotsuchi turned into mud and as he breached the wall behind the mud clone, lava came rushing out.

The older boy screamed out in pain. "I surrender, I surrender." Genma blew loudly in a flute and instantly several ninja were on the place to help him out, some gently putting out the fires before the medic-nin started their work.

"The winner is Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure. Congratulations and don't worry about Maruten, our medics are the best and I'm sure he'll recover completely," the announcer called out. "And next up is Uzumaki Sota vs Yakushi Kabuto. Please wait in the waiting rooms while we're fixing the arena. To ensure a fair competition, you won't have to fight in someone else's mess, at least not today"

Shit, you weren't prepared for this to happen this soon.

"Good luck," Itachi and Shisui said.

"Thanks," you mumbled as you got up and followed the directions from one of the Chuunin standing around the arena. You weren't sure what you were going to do. You had to talk to your clone.

-x-

"I don't know what to do," you told your clone.

"You kill him, simple like that."

"I'm getting unsure, what if I'm wrong? What about the consequences?" You asked. One thing was talking about doing it, another thing was actually doing it.

"Accidents are bound to happen during tournaments like this, so I'm sure they'll just sweep it under the rug as part of the game. And if that were to fail, Danzo will bail us out, or we'll just say he put us up to it," he said.

"Still, I cannot kill one person just because I think it might save many more."

"Then you just need to analyze the situation. You know what he's going to do, you just have to weigh the consequences, will you let hundreds die because you think he might be innocent?" He asked.

"There is always a chance," you said. Why couldn't you just send him out on the arena?

"And how likely do you think it is that he's going to turn into a murderous bastard?" Your clone asked.

"80-90% I think."

"So, you want to sacrifice hundreds if not thousands because you think it's a 10-20% chance that Kabuto is innocent? Doesn't sound like a good idea," he said.

"You cannot just kill someone innocent just because you think it's for the greater good, that's how Danzo thinks."

"You're not killing one innocent person. You're killing someone you're quite certain is guilty to save his victims. And if it sounds like something Danzo would come up with, it will only be easier to get away with it."

"I'm still not sure," you muttered.

He placed his hands on your shoulders and smiled at you. "You can do it. We won't get an opportunity like this again. We're not monsters, we're just doing what we have to do to save our friends. And if we're wrong, it's not our fault. We tried telling Raidou but he refused to listen. We're just lucky that Kabuto hasn't decided to silence us yet."

You looked at him and sighed. "You're right. We only get one chance on this, so we cannot give him the chance to surrender. Help me roll up explosive tags under my sleeves and make sure I've enough protective seals to not kill myself in the process."

Your clone nodded. "But we don't have much time, you should make more of me."

You nodded back and summoned two additional clones. "You there, make as many explosion absorption seals as you can. And you, look out in the hallway and signal us when they come to get us."

"You could be a bit nicer," your original clone said.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit stressed," you said.

-x-

"Welcome to the second match for the day. Between Yakushi Kabuto, genin for four years and already competed in this exam several times. Versus his teammate Uzumaki Sota, half the age and genin for about four months. Will experience or talent win out?"

You were not sure if the time was right, or if it was only a joke on your behalf.

"Though given Kabuto's reputation for giving up, Sota might have a chance," the announcer continued.

No, you're not giving up this time Kabuto.

"I ask both competitors to get into position."

You got down and gave Genma a short nod to greet him before you turned your eyes towards Kabuto. The plan was simple. Body flicker towards him and then boom!

"Stop when I blow the whistle, or when you see that your opponent is unable to continue. Don't attack an opponent that's down. I will rule in your favour if it's clear that you'd won if you could attack. Understood?" Genma asked.

"Yes," both of you said.

"Are you both ready?" He asked.

"Yes," you said.

"Are you ready Kabuto?" Genma prompted.

"Uh, yes. Good luck Sota," he replied.

You just looked at him as Genma got out of the way.

"Alright. Three… Two… One… Go!" The announcer yelled out.

In a quick well-prepared motion, you formed the tiger seal and shoot towards him. Without slowing down, you activated your hidden seals as you couldn't let him dodge. There was no turning back now, the deed was done.

A bright light flashed and your ears rang as the explosions did their work. Sand and dust were thrown everywhere, sending you backwards with it. The air was filled with yellow dust with a hint of red. You shut your eyes, ready in a blocking stance, just in case. But as the dust started to settle, you opened your eyes and saw a bloodied body leaning into the wall, not moving, Kabuto was sitting in a position you didn't know the human body was capable of. Positions only a dead person could manage.

On reflex, you began to chuckle. One big threat was gone. And just to make sure it wasn't a genjutsu, you bit hard down on your lip. But the pain and blood told you that no, it was real.

Your creep laugh continued as you stepped closer. You tried to hold it back, but you couldn't help it.

As you got a better look at his broken body, a hit of guilt finally snapped you out of your laughter. People looked more innocent when they weren't awake.

Guilt because he trusted you despite how you acted. Guilt because he still tried to be your friend despite how you pushed him away. Guilt because his last words were to wish you good luck. Guilt because you realized that you had asked the wrong question. It wasn't whenever he'd repeat his actions from the original timeline, but whenever you could get him on the right path. You had every opportunity to change this timeline, you just threw it away.

You got down on your knees and began to clutch and shake your head. You were no hero, you were a murderer and a monster.

It wasn't before now you realized that the dust had settled and everyone could see you. You let go of your head before they started to think you were crazy and got up.

Behind you, you saw several ninja running towards Kabuto's dead body. You could see them shouting something at you, but all you heard was the constant ringing in your ears.

One of them grabbed your shoulder and pointed towards the tunnel entrance as they noticed you couldn't hear them.

"Did I win?" You asked them.

They gave you a careful nod before pushing you towards the exit.

Why did you ask that? It wasn't the right priority at the moment. You probably gave them the impression that you were a heartless psychopath.

As you dragged your tiny feet through the sand, you looked up at where Shisui and Itachi were seated, only to see the latter was gone.

The walk felt as long as the trip through the deserts of Suna. Your body was feeling more irresponsive than ever and you wished you could just bury your head in the sand.

You looked behind you again, Kabuto's body was being carried towards the other tunnel on a stretcher, with a black sheet covering both the body and the head, so it was official.

As you got inside, you started to feel more and more nauseous. And further in the lights started to flicker.

Even the lights were conspiring against you, like some big clichè, the only thing missing now was a tiny raincloud located right above your head to rub it in.

Then it went completely dark and you felt some hands pushing you into the ground.

Shit, though this wasn't the first kidnapping attempt. So you tried grabbing for your tags, but before you could do anything, the kidnapper had grabbed both your wrists and were using the rest of their body to you in place. Before you could think about using Matatabi, you could feel something being slapped on your forehead before covering your mouth with a moist piece of cloth that had a strong smell of chemicals.

You tried struggling out of their grasp, but it was hopeless.

feeling something pressing against your neck.

Weren't there guards in the tunnels. Surely there would be some ANBU watching you that could come to your rescue.

Being completely immobilized and with no help in sight, there was nothing you could do other than to wait out the seconds it took for you to lose consciousness.

You were slowly getting back consciousness and you could feel your hands being tied to something.

It was pitch dark and you could smell the stale air. Wait, that was a blindfold, but it could still be dark.

You tried to wiggle yourself out of the constraints but they wouldn't budge and all you got out of it was sore skin after rubbing your wrists against the rope.

"Let me out, bastards!" You yelled out. But there was no response, the only sound you could hear was your own breath.

You had to get free while you had the chance. If only you could touch parts of the chair, perhaps you could try to make an explosive seal and break yourself free, when Danzo had taught you this, you hadn't expected it to be this useful. But whoever had captured you had thought about that as you were nowhere near touching anything.

You sighed. But not all hope was over yet, you tried channelling Matatabi but that just resulted in a flash of pain on your forehead. Yeah, the seal, you forgot about that.

So you just had to wait then, but it didn't take long before you heard the door open and the footsteps coming closer and the sound of a cane hitting the hard floor.

"Danzo! Let me go bastard!" You yelled at him.

"Taking your anger out on me won't help you Sota," Danzo said before something hard struck your head. "Don't make me lose my patience with you."

"You locked me in here!".

He smacked you again. "The Hokage's advisors ordered you captured. I'm here to help you. Right now we're what we're supposed to do with you."

"The more you're trying to help me the worse thing get," you mumbled.

Danzo didn't reply, just poked your face and pulled off the blindfold with his cane.

His face was even more unnerving than before as it was lit from the light from his lantern.

"I can't make it worse, trust me. The Hokage's advisors are losing patience with you. They want to extract the cat from you and put it into a new host, which means the end of you. You can either cooperate with me, or I can go back and support their motion and begin to look for a new host."

Saying yes to Danzo was always a stupid idea, he'd always find a way to drag you deeper even if his offer initially sounded good. But he was right, you couldn't come up with how he could make things worse if they were considering extracting Matatabi from you.

"Alright, you win. I'll do as you say."

"Why did you attack your teammate?" He asked.

"I thought he was a spy and a traitor."

"So you took the matters into your own hands in front of everyone?" He asked.

"Isn't that what you've taught me, taking out threats before they can strike."

"You must have misunderstood, and nowhere in my teaching did I suggest you'd do it in public. If you'd been smart about it, you'd done it in secret and buried the body. But next time leave it up to professionals as we want to extract more information from any spies we catch."

"I did it on impulse, I thought I was going to get away with it as it was part of the exam, and I wasn't thinking that far. I was sure Orochimaru was behind."

"You were wrong, and now I need to clean up the mess. You'll be making this up to me after the exams." He said and took his lantern and left, thus leaving you in the dark again.

Now all you could do was to wait and hope for the best and that you'd not seen the light for the last time.

-x-

You woke up by something hard-hitting your head. You opened your eyes and saw Danzo again.

You lifted your head and looked at him waiting for him to talk.

"You've been given another chance," he said.

"So does that mean I can leave now?"

"No, you'll be staying in this cell until the tournament starts and we'll reconsider your fate depending on your performance."

"But can you at least untie me?" You asked.

"After we're done talking, you're much more well behaved like that."

You didn't answer him.

"I told your story to the others, but they have some doubts about you. They think you like to kill people for fun, your laughter doesn't help either."

"That's your fault!" You yelled at him.

He smacked your head again.

"Ouch," you mumbled.

"It's doing as intended, you should want people to be scared of you. You getting in other trouble is your own fault. To my point, to ensure you don't cause any more deaths, you're not allowed your explosives or anything else that might risk killing people. The others think that you're village a bad reputation and fear for the safety of the spectators."

You paused to think for a moment, what could you do, your entire shtick was your explosives. But perhaps you could finally pick up the cursed sword again.

"Do you think you can teach me to fight with a sword properly?"

"I know that you perhaps think that getting stabbed is not a big deal, but they will not give you the chance to stab someone to death," he said.

"So what can I do then?" You asked. "I guess fire is out to then…"

"I can't help you there, if you weren't a Jinchuuriki I'd suggest you go for Genjutsu. You're on your own here."

"You said you were going to help me!" You yelled.

"And I've helped you, I've given you another chance. Use that Uzumaki brain of yours to come up with something. I'll try to get you out of here," he said.

"Thanks…" you mumbled.

"And before I forget," he said and untied you before ripping the seal off your forehead.

"Wait, shouldn't you keep it on, so I don't release Matatabi to escape?" You asked.

"You might be stupid, but not that stupid. If you behave despite having the chance to release her, you might gain some goodwill and make it easier for me to convince the others to let you out early. But don't abuse my trust, as you'll get no other chances after that," he said and left.

-x-

You were trying to come up with something, but it was hopeless and just sitting in a dark room did nothing to help your creativity. Why had you let your clone rope you into this? Not only had you killed someone who was most likely innocent, but you were also now at risk of the village getting rid of you and your way out was a Catch-22 situation.

As there were little you could do than just lay down in your bed and sleep, if you could call it that, as it was nothing more than a few layers of blankets separating you from the hard floor. Perhaps you could dream of some good ideas.

x

You were back in the arena again, but instead of looking at Kabuto, you were looking at yourself. In a blur, you were gone and then your eyes got blinded before it felt like your body was torn apart.

x

You jumped up in your bed and gasped for air. Your body wouldn't let you sleep that easy and you had no idea how long you had slept or if it been minutes or hours. It felt so real. Had Danzo messed with your mind again or was your guilt playing tricks on you?

But it didn't take long before you were bored again and you had nothing in your cell to entertain yourself with. Or if there was, you couldn't see it.

Hours went on and you switched between sitting against the wall, rolling around on the thin blanket and having short bouts of sleep. The latest being interrupted with a bang on the door followed by some food being shoved through a hatch in the bottom of the door followed by a welcome sight of light.

You picked up the tray of food and began to poke around in it to identify it. If your senses were right, it was some cold rice along with some bread alongside a cup of water you almost knocked on the side.

You took a few bites before deciding you weren't very hungry.

And the next days weren't much better, and you felt weaker for every day that went and the bowls of good pilled up as you had lost all appetite despite your stomach getting more and more empty.

-x-

When you woke up this time, you were no longer in your cell but rather back with Matatabi who was currently lying outstretched on her back pawing the bars in front of her.

She had definitely warmed up to you compared to when you first met her. But if you told her she was cute, she'd probably just get mad at you and stop.

"That took you long," she greeted you.

"I'm sorry, do you feel lonely?"

"Of course not, I'm bored. With the trouble you've gotten yourself all I see is darkness. So please do something about it."

"Not much I can do now. I'll have to wait for them to let me out. And then I need to impress in the finals, even if it's hopeless."

"I can help you," she said.

"I don't think bringing you out is a good idea."

"I don't mean that, I can teach you how to win, but you need to promise me something first," she said.

Perhaps her help could be useful, you'd at least hear her out.

"Alright, I'll listen."

"Promise me that if you fail, you'll escape Konoha, I'll even lend you my power."

"Why?" You asked.

She rolled on her side and paused for a moment. "I don't want a new host, I've gotten used to you. Maybe my next will be a dog person, or worse, an Uchiha."

"Alright, I'll run away if things won't work. I guess there is still a chance to defect to Kumo. So, what do I do? Remember what Danzo said."

She got up on her feet. "It's easy."

"First you pounce on the opponent," she said while jumping at the bars. "And then sit on them until they surrender."

You buried your head in your head. That was her genius idea,

"You don't know before you try you ungrateful brat," she roared at you.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm quite small."

"Hmm… true, that was silly of me. But I've more ideas. Just come up to the bars and stand still for a moment, it won't hurt much."

"Huh?"

"Just do it!" She said.

"Alright," you sighed. It was possible a terrible idea, but without any help, you were screwed anyway.

She put her paw on the other side of the bars and starting channelling chakra into you.

Your right eye started to hurt, was going on here? But you stood still, it had to have some sort of purpose.

Then it stopped.

"Done," she said.

"What did you do?" You asked.

"You can now see in the dark on your right eye, the yellow one I gave you, so now you've one more benefit during the fight."

"We're fighting in the daytime," you said.

"Unappreciative kid, just stall the fight till nighttime and then strike!"

"I'll try," you replied, in hopes, she would be a bit happier with you.

"Now leave, I've things to do," she said.

-x-

Back into your cell, you could quickly see the effects of the gift she gave you. It was still dark, but you could make out a lot more of what was around you.

But there was still not much to see, apart from the rotting food that had accumulated. So it did nothing good as at least before you could ignore it with one of your senses. But on the good side, she had not improved your sense of smell.

As your stomach was hurting and you were not tired enough, you were unable to distract yourself with another nap. You could do nothing but watch the door, just in the hope something would happen.

-x-

After what's felt like an eternity the door opened again and you had to cover your eyes as the was light flooding into your room.

"How can you treat him like this, he's just a child!" You heard Genma yell at someone outside the door before he stepped inside.

"Come with me so we can get out of here, you've already spent way too much time here," he said.

You nodded and tried to get up but your body wouldn't cooperate.

"Let me help you," he said and picked you up.

It was nice to have some human contact again.

"You feel a bit too light, have you eaten the last week?" He asked and looked around him and saw the untouched bowls of food. "I guess not. I'll fix you up with something good when we're home."

You carefully nodded not having the energy to notice if he could see it or not.

After a short trip through familiar parts of the village, you arrived at his house.

"We'll need to get you a bath first, you kind of stink," he said with a laugh and carried you to his bathroom and began to fill the water.

"I can manage this myself," you said.

"Sota, I don't think that's a good idea, I'm afraid you'll drown."

"What kind of ninja drowns in a bathtub?" You asked.

"One who hasn't eaten or slept properly for a week," he said and summoned two shadow clones.

"One of you fix us some dinner and the other get some clothes for Sota," he ordered them and they went their way.

Of everything that had tried to kill you, you sure weren't going to die to a bathtub.

But after a bit of help from Genma, you got into the bathtub. You hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time.

"Sota, stay awake," he said.

You opened your eyes again and blinked a few times. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," he said.

Fifteen minutes later the Genma clone was back with some clothes and dispelled itself.

It was nice to finally get clean again, but now the smell from Genma's kitchen started to tempt you.

You got dressed and you had gained enough strength to walk downstairs yourself and sat down at the table while the clone did the work.

"Feeling better now?" Genma asked.

You nodded despite still feeling crap.

"There are things we need to talk about, but first you need to eat. How is the dinner going," he turned around and asked his clone.

"Set the table and it should be ready," the clone said.

"Oh yes, I forgot", Genma laugh and got up from his chair and soon some kind of mystery meat with rice, salad and some kind of strange sauce was put on the table.

You hoped it was good, and that it wasn't just a result of his dubious cooking skills.

"Hey, give it a try before you judge," he said with a laugh.

"I'm sorry," you replied.

"Don't worry, let's greet the food so you can finally eat."

You nodded and soon after you didn't really care how his food tasted, at this point you just wanted to eat as you finally had gotten back your will to eat.

"I'm happy you like it, but take it slow will you, I don't want you to get sick."

You stopped putting more food in your mouth and looked up at him. You could barely fit the food you had in your mouth already so you should probably listen to him.

So you started to slowly chew everything.

"It has been decided that you shouldn't live alone anymore, so I'll be your older brother for the foreseeable future. I hope that's okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll try to not disappoint you."

"Being my little brother is not a test, you don't need to worry about not being good enough," he said and smiled at you.

It wasn't exactly what you meant but you could go with that.

"You're not allergic to cats, right?" He asked.

You shook your head.

"I'm going to adopt some, I'm going to get them tomorrow, you don't mind right?" He asked.

"Cats are cute, but it's not something you should do on impulse, it is a big responsibility."

"Hey, don't think I'm that irresponsible. I've been thinking about adopting some for some time now, but I've put it off as I don't want them to be alone for too long, but with two here that will be less of a problem. I think they'd be good for you."

"I look forward to it," you smiled at him. "I just hope Matatabi doesn't think I'm going to replace her," you laugh.

"Did you talk to her during your stay in the cell?"

"Yes, she tried to give me some advice for the exam, she got a bit annoyed that I didn't take her seriously, but you kind of need to be a big cat to get it to work. She also gave me a gift to help me, I can now see in the dark on my yellow eye. But unless I can somehow make day into night, it's not going to help me."

"At least she had the heart are the right place. You're not letting her trick you into releasing her right?"

"No, I don't think she wants to get free. She realized that she cannot laze around all day if she loses me and she kind of feel sorry for me. So all my bad luck has gotten me somewhere."

"I do still think you should watch out, I will at least."

"Please apologize to her, I don't want her to get cranky."

"Umm…" Genma paused for a moment. "I'm sorry Matatabi, I just want what's best for Sota, I didn't mean to be suspicious about you."

"Thanks," you mumbled back and yawned. "I think I'm getting tired."

"Alright, I'll show you your room."

-x-

The next morning you woke up feeling much more well-rested than you had in a long time. Judging from the view outside, you had slept for quite a while.

As you entered the living room, two small cats, white and black, ran towards you and began to sniff you.

"Good morning, say hello to Kaiyou and Momochi," Genma greeted you.

"Good morning, and hello you two," you said to the two kittens.

"I guess you're hungry, do you want me to make you some egg?" He asked.

"That would be nice, thanks."

As you sat down at the table the white one jumped in your lap.

"That's Kaiyou, she got her name because she loves water, so be careful so she doesn't play with your glass," Genma explained.

"A bit unusual for a cat, but not that strange I guess," you said and began to pet her.

"I'm glad you two get along. Here is your food," he said and handed you your plate.

"Thanks, and Momochi, does he have any strange quirks?"

Genma started to chuckle. "He quite like knives, but don't worry, he doesn't hurt anyone with them, but please be a bit careful."

"Don't tell me that he's named after Zabuza."

"Actually, but it's not I that named them. The previous owner had a run with him in the past and got inspired."

You heard someone knocking on the door.

"I'll go and get it," he said.

Moments later. Naruto ran in and sat down opposite you. "Hi, Sota. I hear you got to the finals of the Chuunin exam," he grinned.

"Hi, yeah," you replied. It wasn't a subject you wanted to discuss with Naruto.

Momochi jumped up on the table holding a butter knife in his mouth and walked up to Naruto.

"He's cute, is he going to be a ninja cat? Maybe you can use him in the finals, just like Kiba uses Akumaru," he asked.

"He's no ninja cat, and bringing him into a fight can be quite dangerous without a lot of training," Genma said.

"Iruka promised us a few weeks ago that we'll get to see you in the finals if you got that far, but then a few days ago he changed his mind and won't tell us why. I tried asking Shisui and Itachi, but they wouldn't tell me anything either. What's going on?" He asked.

You didn't want to talk about it, how could you distract him?

Luckily Genma stepped in. "Nothing really. Your teacher must just have realized that the exam can be a bit violent and that you're a bit too young for it."

"But I'm older than him. I know something is going on, I'm not stupid. Itachi told me that I shouldn't be alone with Sota, something must have happened. Why does everyone try to hide stuff from me? I was really going to come here with Itachi, but he said no and that I shouldn't either. I thought you two were friends."

You too thought you were friends.

"He's afraid that me and Sasuke will get hurt. But you wouldn't do that right, you're my friend?"

You put your head onto the table. You really had fucked up more than you thought. You had seen Itachi leave the stands after your fight, but not that he had turned on you like his.

"Naruto, I think you should go back home now."

"But… I'm his friend. He's sad and needs some cheering up," he said.

"Maybe another day Naruto," Genma said.

"Aww... " Naruto groaned. "See you later then Sota."

Genma showed Naruto outside and when he came back he started patting your head.

"I'm sorry about Itachi, I'm sure he'll change around eventually. You might not think about him that way, but he's still a kid and do a lot of stupid things," he said.

"Maybe."

You felt a paw hitting your head and as you turned your head towards it, you saw Momochi dropping his knife in front of you and when you didn't react, he pushed it closer to you.

"Thanks," you mumbled.

He then began to rub his head against yours.

You smiled at him, you could get through this, you still had Shisui, Naruto, Genma and these lovely cats.

"I've some work to do, so I'll have to leave you three alone for a bit. I've filled their food bowls, so don't give them more. But make sure they've enough water and that Kaiyou doesn't spill it all out. And play with them will you? It will do you all good," he said. "And if you get more hungry, feel free to make yourself something light, but I'll bring home something good when I'm done so don't eat too much. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll try to come home early."

"You don't need to worry, I can't have more bad luck now," you replied.

"Don't jinx it, but if everything is fine, bye then," he said and left.

You wondered what Kaiyou was up to, and as you looked around you finally found her sitting in her water bowl looking quite pleased with herself.

So you went to get another bowl so she had something to drink, and as you placed it next to her, she jumped out of her current bowl and into the new one splashing the water everywhere.

But she looked too happy to be mad at her, even as she got back into her original bowl probably wanting to do it again.

But then she started yawning at you before jumping out and rubbing herself against your feet making your pants all wet.

"I'll get you a towel," you said and starting rummage around in Genma's drawers till you found one and sat down on the floor signalling her to come which she obliged.

You picked her up in your lap and carefully started drying her, and as you were done, she gave you another yawn before laying down.

"Hey, you cannot fall asleep here," you told her.

But either she didn't understand you, or she didn't care. And given that she was a cat, both were as likely.

You heard something dropping on the floor and as you turned your attention to the sound, you saw Momochi giving you a big yawn before running towards you.

"You're going to take a nap too?"

He just ignored you and jump onto your lap and laid beside Kaiyou. And they were right, a bit of a nap wasn't too bad of an idea, so you leaned against the wall joined them.

-x-

You woke up as Genma came home. "I'm home Sota," he greeted you from the door.

Both Momochi and Kaiyou jumped off your lap and ran towards Genma to circle his legs.

"Hello to you two too as well," he told them and put the food he had bought on the table "I hope you're hungry Sota?"

"Yeah," you replied and sat down at the table. More food now couldn't hurt anyway given the minimal food the last week.

"I bought us some pumpkin soup, if you don't like it I'll go get you something else, but you should give it a try, it is delicious. And for dessert, I've some dango for you."

"I'll give it a try," you said and took the box he gave you along with a spoon.

"So what do you think?" He asked.

You took a sip. "It's good, it's no dango, but I wouldn't mind having it occasionally."

"I'm glad to hear that," Genma said. "After we've eaten, would you like a bit of a spar? I've just a mini-dojo so it isn't too much space to move as you might be used to, but if you're unsure how to deal with the exam with the restrictions put onto you, going over the basics won't hurt, especially since you've not been very active lately."

"Sure," you replied and took the last sip of your soup. "Could I get some dango now?"

"Here," he said and handed you another box.

-x-

After dinner you joined him in his dojo, you were currently chasing him down, but he easily dodged you every time, but that was to be expected.

"You're doing well, I had feared you were in a worse shape," Genma said.

"And yet I've not been closed to hitting you, not even once."

"Sota, don't forget that I'm a special jounin, you're not supposed to hit me. But don't let that discourage you."

"I know," you sighed. "Start to attack me, so I can practice dodging, I'll probably need that during the exam."

"Alright, you won't be able to dodge everything, just focus on recover quickly afterwards."

"Got it," and as you said that, Genma was already striking at you with a kick that you barely managed to dodge below which was quickly followed up with another kick that shoot you back into the wall.

"Don't stop moving!" He yelled at you before sending another kick your way. You rolled out of the way before running up the walls.

"Now you got it, don't let yourself become rusty," he called out.

This was more like you. And as he attacked again you jumped over him ready to counter-attack, only to get kicked away into the other wall.

"I'm sorry, but you're too slow," he said. "And I've much better reach than you."

And before he could even attack, you rolled away from where you were sitting and got into the ceiling.

As you tried to hit his head, he grabbed your wrist and flung you off the ceiling and into the ground.

"Tell me if you want to stop, the floor shouldn't be too hard, but it can still hurt."

"I'm fine, I'm not giving up," you said while rolling away once more. "I can keep this up for hours."

And you were right, after what felt like an eternity, you finally got in a hit and then another one.

"We're done Sota, please stop," Genma said and gasped for his breath as he sat down.

"Huh, I thought you were a special jounin," you teased him.

"Don't be too full of yourself Sota, I wasn't going full out on you, but I don't have unlimited energy unlike you. Are you really not tired at all?"

"Uhh, not really. Perhaps a bit hungry and thirsty, but that's it. Maybe this is how I can win my fights, just outlast my opponent."

"I'm sorry Sota, but there is a time limit on the fight, while we don't announce it as we don't want people to abuse it, we do stop fights where one person is stalling too much or the fight seems to be a stalemate. We have got a lot of fights to get done that day and they need to be completed in a reasonable time. So don't expect more than an hour before we call it off.

"So who wins if the fight gets stopped?" You asked.

"It doesn't happen often, but the general rule is that both lose and we'll find a way to adjust the other fights to fill in for the missing winner."

"That sounds like a stupid rule, stalling is a genuine tactic, it lets win time till reinforcements come."

"Or it lets your opponent win time till their reinforcements come. While what you're saying has some merit, the exams are also a show and the village likes more flashy fights that gain clients, not someone who just runs out the clock," he said.

"I see."

"I think I hear the cats asking for food, let's go and check on them," he said.

"Good idea."

-x-

"Sota, do you want to join me at the Chuunin exam festival tonight? You've not been outside for a couple of weeks now," Genma asked you.

"I need to prepare for tomorrow," you sighed. "And I still haven't come up with anything, this is hopeless."

"There is one thing you can do, I'm not a big fan of it and it will lower your evaluation at the end. But if you don't win anything, it will be even worse."

"Wait, why didn't you say anything before now?" You asked him.

"I had hoped you'd come up with something better, but the solution is simple, bluff. You can still use your water seals, so pretend it's something else. Just make sure you don't get caught in a lie. There are rules against pretending something is less dangerous than it really is, but there are no rules against trying to trick the opponent into believing your stuff is more dangerous than it is."

"I see."

"But I still think you should join me tonight at the festival. You're better off improvising whatever trick you're playing on your opponent," he said.

"If you say so. Hmm… sure, it cannot be that bad," you had no idea what kind of festival it was, but it would be nice to get outside a bit."

"It will be fun, we'll just have to feed Kaiyou and Momochi first."

-x-

Outside the village was lit with colourful lights coming from paper lamps, red, green and brown, marked, Fire, Wind and Earth, symbolizing the three main villages competing in the tournament.

The air was filled with the smell of food and around you with children both younger and older than you running around with different masks.

"Do you want a mask too?" Genma asked you and pointed to one of the mask vendors.

"I feel I'm a bit too old for that," you said.

Genma looked down at you. "It's okay Sota, you don't have to prove anything. You were thrown into being a ninja way too soon. So if you want to just run around and forget that you're a ninja for a few hours, that's fine."

"I appreciate your concern, and thanks for wanting to get me a mask. But I'm not like most other children."

"Sorry Sota, I overstepped a bit there. How about getting you some dango?"

"Now you know me," you said and smiled at him.

As you got to the dango stand, the man behind the counter scowled at you.

Genma just ignored him. "Two sticks of dango please," he said and held out the appropriate amount of money.

"Take your money and leave," the vendor sneered. "I don't want that monster here."

"Please," he begged.

The man raised his voice and slapped the money out of Genma's hand. "Get that murderous little monster away from me!"

You looked away and wasn't sure what to do, you didn't want to be there anymore.

"Is there a problem here?" You looked up and saw an Uchiha police officer.

"Yes, these two won't leave," the dango seller said.

"I just want to buy some dango, Sota has had a difficult time lately," Genma explained.

The officer turned to the guy. "I'll warn you, as part of your license as a vendor here you're not allowed to turn away customers without a good reason," he explained.

"No reason you say? He'll blow us all up! Isn't that a good enough reason for you?" the man yelled. "Just look like what he did to his teammate, and you're letting him compete tomorrow. He'll create a blood bath."

"I'm not a monster!" You yelled out, and as you turned around you saw everyone staring at you.

You felt Matatabi's chakra leaking through your system, you had to get away before you'd give in to her power.

"Sota! Please wait," you head Genma call behind you.

No, you just had to get away. You slid under a wagon and quickly ran into a back alley before sitting down by the wall.

First Itachi, now the dango salesman, you'd never had the chance to learn his name, but you had been a good customer. All because of one mistake.

You could feel that Matatabi was trying to break free, but you had no energy to do anything but to bury your head in your knees.

"Sota," you could hear Genma whispering.

You looked up and saw him slowly approach you. It wasn't exactly a good hiding spot you had found yourself.

"It is okay Sota. You're not a monster. Everyone makes mistakes in life, just please calm down and take control before she breaks loose.

"What's the point," you mumbled and noticed that the sight of Genma starting to get blurred by a blue fog.

"I won't tell anyone about his, you won't get in trouble, I promise. And tomorrow you can prove to everyone who you really are."

He got a point, but… "It's hopeless. I've no chance proving anything. And you remember what Danzo said, I need to do well or else the other elders will decide that I'm no longer worth it. I should just run away, can you help me?"

"Sota, we'll get through this, I'm sure you'll surprise everyone tomorrow, even yourself."

"Maybe…" you mumbled.

"Please try to control her, I won't put the seal on you unless I have to. So please give it your best," he said and smiled at you.

You could do it! You could take control.

Slowly your vision got clearer till the blue fog completely disappeared.

"Come let's go home," he said and picked you up and you ended up falling asleep in his arms.